


The Forbidden Father (18+ Only) (Novella)

by queenhoneebee



Series: Wattpad Original Stories [6]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 15:07:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 87,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28708659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenhoneebee/pseuds/queenhoneebee
Summary: Was deleted off Wattpad. I'm looking into self publishing.Kingsley, a broke traveler with no place to live, takes up her best friend Hannah's offer to love at her family home. Only... Hannah's father still lives there too.Flynn, a reclusive sculpture artist with a tortured past, opens his home to Kingsley, but can he open his heart, too?
Series: Wattpad Original Stories [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2104437
Kudos: 2





	1. Prologue: In Which She Is A Tease

**PROLOGUE: In Which She Is A Tease**

**Kingsley**

_“You make me feel like I’m living a–”_

_“–Teenage dream!”_

_“The way you turn me on–”_

_“–I can’t sleep–”_

_“Let’s run away and don’t ever look back–”_

_“Don’t ever look back!”_

Hannah laughed as she pulled us into her garage. I was grinning like a fool, high on the feeling of the afternoon. Having just come home from our high school graduation, I was on cloud nine.

Screaming the lyrics to Katy Perry’s hit song seemed an appropriate way to spend the drive back to her enormous house. Sitting in the garage, she kept the song going as we belted out the chorus.

 _“My heart stops,”_ she started, pointing at me for my turn.

 _“When you look at me! Just, one, touch–”_ We made different poses for each one syllable beat, making me giggle uncontrollably.

_“Now baby I believe!”_

_“This is real!”_ I chanted.

_“So, take a chance and don't ever look back!”_

_“Don't ever look back!”_ We sang together, falling into a fit of laughter as I watched her raise her hands into the air. Her convertible had enough room for it, and she was more than taking advantage of it. She shut off the car as we kept singing the words we knew to heart, pretending we were in our own little musical or something.

I grinned as she jumped over the door of her car and danced around her garage. The car had been a generous graduation present from her dad, and she was certainly using it to her advantage. I had happily accepted a ride home with her today because there was no way I could ever afford myself a car.

Today couldn’t have been a happier day for the two of us. The fact that we were high school graduates was crazy to me. I watched my best friend trip over her own two feet and go sprawling on the floor of the garage in a fit of laughter. I couldn’t help but laugh as I hurried to get out of the car to help her up.

“Look at that,” I grinned. “You’ll be tripping into med school before you know it.”

Hannah waved me off as she got herself up. “Ha! That was hardly my fault. I stepped on the stupid grad gown.”

I chuckled as I hooked my arm in hers and led her into the house. I knew where we were heading. It had been a pact of ours that we’d made years ago that we would jump fully clothed in our gowns into her pool on our last day of senior year.

It was a good thing I’d come prepared and I had my new bikini on underneath my clothes. It was also a good thing that the sweet California heat made her pool all the more inviting.

As we tumbled our way through her house and out to her pool, her dad was nowhere to be found. I wasn’t surprised. Flynn never showed at the best of times and he couldn’t even be assed to show up to his daughter’s graduation today.

She had waved it off to me but I knew it had upset her that he hadn’t bothered to come. She’d rattled off some excuse that he had a new piece that he was working on urgently, but I didn’t think that that really cut it.

I mean, it was his only daughter’s graduation day for God’s sake. The fact that he hadn’t bothered shouldn’t have surprised me. He was an absentee parent at best. I had my suspicions that Hannah’s new car was something he’d bought to make it up to her but I knew that she’d never really be happy with that.

A hundred convertibles in the world couldn’t fix the rift between her and Flynn.

I was always conflicted about how to blame him for his absentness. He’d had Hannah show up on his door when he was eighteen and her mom had died. I wouldn’t have known what to do with a six-year-old at that age either.

Still. I don’t think that that excused any of his behavior. I would have thought the twelve years that they had spent living together might have taught him how to be a dad but apparently not.

I could hardly talk though. I didn’t really have much to compare it to. My own parents weren’t any better at that part of the job either.

“Come on, Kingi!” Hannah called, impatient as she rushed us towards the glass sliding doors that led to her giant patio. I was always in awe of Hannah’s house. It was one of those big expensive millionaire mansions and it never made sense to me why she lived here.

It was just her and her dad. But I guess, maybe he wanted a big enough house to securely avoid his daughter. The pure size of the building meant that sometimes Hannah came to school complaining that she hadn’t seen her dad in days.

There were moments where I wished for that kind of space in my own home. I thought sometimes that maybe that might solve all my parents problems. Maybe for once all the yelling would stop for just a moment.

It was a wonder neither of them had ever lost their voices.

Needless to say, I spent a lot of my time keeping Hannah company at her house, and simultaneously avoiding my own.

She and I finally made outside. I had been excited to use it all day, because the sun had been beating down on us. I don’t know why our principal thought it was appropriate for us to wear the full graduation gown for the entire day, especially after two people had to go to the nurse’s room for heatstroke.

Either way, I was happy to shed the layers. I grinned as I watched Hannah run around to the other side of the pool.

“On three?” I grinned. Hannah laughed, pulling her hair out of her ponytail as she nodded.

“One…”

“Two…” I said, not able to contain the excitement in my voice.

“Three!” We screamed together. I didn’t focus on anything else as the two of us plunged down into the water. I was immediately enveloped by the cool temperature as my gown wrapped itself around me in a cloud of fabric. I was giggling under the water and I couldn’t help it.

When we came up for air, Hannah was laughing to herself.

“Holy shit, I never thought something could feel so fucking good,” she moaned contently as she pushed herself up into a float on her back, letting her hair frame her face. I laughed from where I stood, trying to keep myself from falling under with the weight of the gown.

“You need Jesus,” I chuckled, catching her eye. Hannah seemed to narrow her eyes at me as she realized what I was about to do.

“Kingsley, I swear to _God_ , if you–”

She didn’t get to say anything else because I cut her off by sending a huge tidal splash in her direction. I listened to her screech as she sputtered for air. When she finally managed to get a hold of herself, she glared me down playfully.

“Oh! You’re dead, I hope you know,” she threatened. I laughed when she began splashing my way. It quickly turned into an all out war. If we weren’t already soaked from head to toe, we would have been by the time we both pulled ourselves out of the water.

I threw my head back and laughed at the way Hannah seemed to hardly be able to hold herself up under the weight of the heavy gown. She rolled her eyes at me with a grin before pulling the thing off and stripping down to her bathers.

She had on a bright yellow bikini that had a pineapple and palmtree print on it. I grinned. It suited her well.

I quickly followed her lead and stripped down to my own bikini. It was one I’d never worn before – in fact it was the only bikini I’d ever worn. I’d always been more on the thicker side, but something about the stress of senior year had helped me shed a few pounds and given me the confidence to pick this suit up in the store.

Well that, and I’d joined the track team just to give me another excuse to stay away from my home.

Either way, I blushed to myself as I got down into my red bikini. It wasn’t too slutty, but it wasn’t completely prudish either. It was a simple triangular cut and I thought it suited me well. Hannah managed to hype me up by clapping loudly.

She even wolf whistled at me, making me blush with a laugh, waving her off.

“Yes! Ladies and gentleman, please welcome the absolute sexiest friend in the world, who has never looked better in her life and is absolutely rocking this bikini so hard!” Hannah yelled, making me laugh.

“Stop it!” I scoffed, blushing some more. Hannah just shook her head.

“Absolutely not, babe! You look fuckin’ hot, and I swear if Jeremy wasn’t so good to me then I would be ripping that suit off of you and doing you right here right now!”

My jaw dropped at her words and I splashed some water in her direction.

“Hannah!” I screeched. I was damn near about to jump on her and secure my hand over her mouth to stop her from screeching. She needed to stop.

“Nuh uh, Kingsley, babe. You need to hear it,” she shook her head at me with a smile. “You look like a mother-fucking queen right now.”

I rolled my eyes at her and waded back into the pool. To escape her words, no matter how good they made me feel inside, I submerged myself under the water, letting the cool temperature make my skin sing with appreciation.

The calm of the afternoon was the one thing I needed after the stress and excitement of the morning. All I wanted was to hang out with my best friend. It might have been the last chance we’d get to do so anyway.

When I came back up, Hannah had situated herself on one of the loungers. She sighed as she relaxed into the material, letting the sun beat down on her already sunkissed skin.

“I cannot believe we are finally done with that school,” Hannah praised. She slid a pair of sunglasses onto her face with a sigh and rested her hands behind her head. I laughed, letting myself paddle around the cool and relaxing water.

“I know!” I grinned. “We’ll never have to watch the Warriors tragically lose another home football game!”

Hannah laughed. “Ain’t that the fucking truth!”

I chuckled before I pulled myself out of the pool. I was wringing out my hair and about to pick up a towel to dry off when I heard a voice behind me.

“Congratulations, girls.”

I spun around quickly in shock, yanking a nearby towel off a lounger to cover myself up with. Flynn Forbes stood casually before me, his hands in the pockets of his suit pants. I could see Hannah from the corner of my eye, lifting her sunglasses to greet him.

“Hi, yeah thanks, Dad.”

Flynn nodded in her direction but his eyes were on mine. It was unmistakable that he’d seen me in my bathers – no less a bikini. I felt my cheeks flame with embarrassment and all the little insecurities that still bothered me about my appearance.

“Thankyou, Mr Forbes,” I managed to sputter. He nodded once, his movements controlled. I couldn’t describe it, but I had always been a little nervous around him. Maybe it was the fact that he was such a young father, or maybe I felt like I had to prove something to him.

I didn’t really know. I had always been a little like that around all adults – skittish and shy that is – but with him it was like it was tenfold. The steel of his gaze always made me feel like I was under a spotlight.

Which was exactly how I felt in that moment. Amplified by the fact that I was practically half naked.

“It’s just Flynn,” he reminded me, like he always did. I had never called him that. It had always felt wrong somehow, and the more formal option always seemed to slip from my lips.

He turned his gaze towards his daughter, who I noticed was smiling a little hopefully like she always did around him. She was always seeking his attention and his approval. It broke my heart how much her love for her father was unrequited.

“I assume you two had fun this morning?” he asked. Hannah nodded excitedly.

“It was so much fun!” she gushed. “All the teachers were saying such nice things about everyone.”

I nodded and turned back to him.

“Yeah, you missed quite the event.” I hadn’t meant for the words to sound so judgemental, but I couldn’t help it. I watched the corner of his eyebrow twitched as he took in my words.

He nodded once. “Yes, it does seem so…”

He gave Hannah a small smile, his voice deep as he spoke to her. “I am very proud of you, Hannah,” he said. “I do apologise that I wasn’t able to make it.”

Hannah shrugged it off, trying to play it cool. “It’s no problem. I’m pretty sure it was taped and put on FaceBook anyway, so I can send you a link.”

Flynn nodded at his daughter. “I’d like that,” he mused. Then he gave us both one last glance as he shuffled on his feet slightly. “Alright, well I’ll leave you girls to your celebrations. Call me if you need anything.”

Hannah gave him a thumbs up and slipped her shades back on. She leant back on her lounger, going back to the magazine that she’d abandoned at her side. I turned back around to face her father, who was about to walk away.

His eyes caught mine as he turned and they seemed to burn into mine. It was only for a moment before his eyes tore from mine. But it made me clench my towel tighter around myself and my lips fall apart slightly.

Then I could help but watch with bright red cheeks as he walked back inside and away from us. As soon as he was out of eyesight, my shoulders seemed to slump and I drew in a large breath.

The man was so intimidating, it was crazy. I shook it off and walked over to Hannah, lying down on the lounger beside her.

“So,” she mused when I had made myself comfortable. “How long until you go?”

I sighed, biting my lip.

“Two weeks,” I said. “My aunt says she has a room for me for about a year but then after that, I’m on my own…”

Hannah grinned, nodding. “Still, it’ll be nice to have somewhere until you can get yourself on your feet,” she grinned. I nodded in agreement. “I just still can’t even believe you’re going…”

I frowned. “Why? I’ve been saving for like four years.”

Hannah shrugged. “I know, but like, England is on the whole other side of the world,” she complained. “I’m gonna miss you. How am I supposed to call you over to my dorm to eat ice cream every time Jeremy does something stupid if you’re on the literal other side of the planet?”

I chuckled. “You’re absurd. You can just FaceTime me,” I laughed. Hannah rolled her eyes.

“I guess. It just won’t be the same. I still don’t even understand why you want to go. A gap year means that we won’t graduate college together…”

I chuckled. “We wouldn’t graduate at the same time anyway, Miss I-want-to-be-a-neurosurgeon,” I laughed. “Besides, I want to travel.” Plus, I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to go to college. _And I need to get away from my parents…_ I didn’t say that last part out loud. Hannah knew my home situation was bad, but with everything going on between her and her dad, I hadn’t burdened her with the full brunt of everything.

Let’s just say that it was too toxic to live in a house with parents going through a divorce who were too poor to actually live in separate houses throughout the process. It was like _The Break-Up_ except a hundred times worse than a good little Rom-Com.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved my family, but there was only so long a person could live in a house in a constant state of anger and yelling. It was no wonder that Hannah’s house had become my second home. It wasn’t like her dad didn’t have the room.

“My Aunt Stacey is doing me a huge favor for this year and then, I dunno… after that I just want to travel around Europe for a while,” I said. “You know, get some life experience and see the world…”

Hannah pouted at me but sat up and pulled me into a big bear hug from the side. “I know, I’m just gonna miss you is all,” she said sadly. “I know you’re gonna have heaps of fucking fun, just promise me something, yeah?”

I pulled away slightly to look at her. “Yeah?”

“Promise you won’t find yourself a Pommie Hannah to replace me. And don’t you dare fall in love with some handsome European prince and get married and have his babies and then never come back to visit me.”

I laughed. “Are you kidding?! I could never replace you!” I grinned, pulling her back into a hug. “And I promise that if I marry a prince that I’ll force him to let you come live with us so that we’re not apart.”

Hannah grinned and squeezed me tightly.

“Good, I just had to make sure.”

I laughed at her words as we pulled away and lay back down in our loungers. Her words swum around my head and I couldn’t stop my eyes from wandering back to the door that led inside.

I bit my lip at the thoughts racing around my mind. Of one person in particular. I shook my head to rid the thoughts as Hannah pulled up the magazine she’d been holding.

“Okay, well seeing as you’re leaving before you can help me move into my dorm room, you have to help me pick out some stuff to style it,” she said, holding up the catalogue. I grinned.

“Oh absolutely. I don’t need the backdrop on our FaceTimes to look like a dungeon.”

“I know right,” Hannah’s eyes widened. “That would be purely tragic.”

I laughed as we started chatting.

.

Hannah had fallen asleep about an hour ago. Which would have been fine, if it hadn’t started getting dark and cold, and all that I had to cover us with were a few used towels and some drenched graduation gowns.

With a sigh, I put down the trashy teens magazine that I had been reading for lack of other things to do and I lifted myself from my seat. I wrapped my damp towel around myself as I ventured inside Hannah’s ginormous house.

The back patio led into a giant room with nothing in it except the grand staircase and a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. I knew that this foyer was usually where Hannah set up her big Christmas tree so that she could see it every morning as she walked past the stairs. It was quite a genius spot for it, really.

I headed up the stairs to where I knew her bedroom was. It was at the end of the hall up there and I knew she kept some spare blankets there that we could cuddle up with outside. Plus, I could grab some changes of clothes for us, or at least a hoodie or something.

Hannah had wanted to sit outside under the stars and make smores on her ‘bonfire’. I smirked to myself at the thought. Hannah’s version of a bonfire was her outdoor gas firepit but I guess we could make do with what we had.

I shuffled up the stairs, clutching at my towel to keep it up. Hannah’s room was a mess when I made it inside but I expected nothing less. She had two king sixed beds in the room, one on each end. The second one was the one that I usually slept in. Hannah and I had managed to maneuver it into her room a few years ago from the guest room after she realized that in all the time she’d lived here, they’d never had anyone use that room.

I had never minded sharing her bed, or even sleeping on the floor, but I will say that it was very nice to have a bed at her place. It only made it feel that much more like home.

Her closet was behind one of the closed doors, and her bathroom in the other. I quickly opened up her walk in and found some hoodies and sweats that we could lounge around in. My bikini had long ago dried so I didn’t have a problem with any of that.

I eyed the pillows on my bed, wondering if maybe I should try to carry those downstairs, too. I frowned to myself. I was a goner, as soon as I’d seen those pillows I knew I wouldn’t be able to get them out of my mind.

With a sigh, I reserved myself to the idea that I’d have to make two trips. I pulled the clothes into one hand and grabbed two blankets with the other, piling them into my arms and trying unsuccessfully to walk from the room.

Sure enough, as soon as I’d stepped over the threshold into the hallway, I tripped over a corner of the blanket and everything fell from my arms as I tried to steady myself… including the towel trying desperately to cover me up.

“Shit!” I grumbled to myself, annoyed as I bent over to pick it up. When I finally stood up straight again and secured it around my chest, I thought I heard a noise behind me. I whipped around so fast but I couldn’t see anything in the retreating light of day.

I frowned, narrowing my eyes. _It was probably just Matisse or Botticelli_ , I sighed to myself. Those were Hannah’s cats, or rather, Flynn’s cats. Biting my lip, I turned back to the mess I’d made on the floor. I sighed and bent over to pick everything up again, organizing it in my arms in a much easier manner.

When I made it back to the patio, Hannah was still fast asleep. I rolled my eyes at her with a grin before walking to the kitchen. I found us all of the marshmallows and chocolate bars and graham crackers. Hannah’s kitchen was organized in all of those matching glass containers to make everything look more uniform.

It was a very beautiful kitchen and I’d helped Hannah to put everything into those jars on one afternoon after she’d been obsessively scrolling through Pinterest. She’d called it a neat-gasm or something similar. I remember rolling my eyes at her at the time – a running theme of the many things we did.

I took all the jars back out to the patio – as well as a few bags of _Takis_ and other snacks – and placed them on one of the tables, ready to use for later. Then I pulled a hoodie and a pair of short shorts from the pile of clothes. I ditched the towel and pulled them on.

I mentally slapped myself at not having changed sooner because it would have made everything so much easier. What can I say, I was never the sharpest tool in the shed…

I pulled my semi-dried hair off my back and let it rest in the hood of my sweater before I padded back inside. I was on a mission to get those pillows and then I could set them up downstairs and when I woke up Hannah, everything would be all neat and tidy and ready to go.

As I was about to walk back down with the pillows, something stopped me short in my tracks. It was another noise, however this one was different to whatever it was I’d heard before.

This was more guttural, like the low thrum of a motorcycle being turned on, or the purring of a satisfied cat. I frowned and took a step closer to where it was coming from. My eyes widened when I realized that it was Flynn’s bedroom.

But I couldn’t find it in me to walk away.

I realized – with a dropped jaw and a frozen body – that the sounds were his low grunts of self pleasure. My mouth dried up at the realization but something inside me was set alight, and it was what made me take another step closer to the door.

The noises were equally measured – short and sharp.

I’d never had a boyfriend, and there is only so much that I could gather from my own imagination, but if I wasn’t mistaken then the noises I was listening to were the sound of my best friend’s father getting himself off.

I clapped a hand over my mouth as I felt my breathing start to get heavier. I wasn’t an idiot. I knew what listening to him masturbate was doing to my body, and I clenched my thighs together to try and rid the burning need that I felt blooming in my apex.

I clutched at the pillows in my hands and yet I still didn’t move away. I didn’t know what was wrong with me. This was completely wrong for me to be standing here – and I knew that.

But it was like my feet were glued to the floor and my ears were open.

It was like my body was waiting for him, yearning for him. I could feel myself leaning closer to the door with every grunt and every harsh exhale of breath that I could hear through the door.

I knew what my body was craving.

That sex-deprived-curious-virgin part of me craved to know what it sounded like to hear a man be completely torn apart at the seams. I wanted to know how he climaxed and for how long. I wanted to know how long he could hold himself off for before he finally hit his big ‘O’.

I wanted to know what hearing him find his zen would do to my body.

I could already feel the uncomfortable itch of arousal between my legs. That slow burn of wetness gathering at my untouched core. This was a side of me that no one knew about. All anyone ever saw was the girl too shy to make more than one friend at school. The girl who never spoke up in class and the girl who didn’t mind if you cut in front of her at the cafeteria even if it meant she’d miss out on the last slice of pepperoni pizza, just because she was afraid of talking to people.

Some saw me as a pushover, but no one had ever known this about me. No one knew of my love of hentai, or the fact that I owned more than one vibrator. No one knew that I’d bought a specific shower head simply for the one function that I knew could torture my clit into giving me two orgasms in the span of four minutes.

No one knew about that side of me. And listening to my best friend’s father get off was just another part of all that.

Maybe I was so deprived of human contact that that attention-seeking part of myself had manifested into something deeper and more in tune with her sexuality.

I knew what I wanted. And right now, I wanted nothing more than to listen to a man get off.

But then I heard something that made my eyes widen in shock and my panties flood into oblivion. I’m surprised I didn’t come right there in that spot.

Amongst all of his grunting and his heavy breathing, and the muted sound of his wetness being rubbed through his large hand, I heard something that made my heart stop and a zing of pleasure race from my toes to the nerve endings in my brain.

It made my whole body shiver and my skin feel alight with goose-pimples. It made my hair stand on end and it made me want to throw open that door and impale myself on his cock.

My breathing was heavy as I waited to see if he would say it again. My ears rung with confirmation.

“ _Kingsley_ ,” he grunted. “Right there, fuck yes, _right_ there, baby. Ungh.”

I could hear him racing towards his climax. The fact that he’d just said my name twice while he pleasured himself was not lost on me. It meant he was imagining me while he was pleasuring himself.

My mind raced with possibilities of how he could be imagining me. In what positions, and wearing what. How hard we were going.

I could feel my nipples hardening through my bikini at the thought and then my eyes widened as it dawned on me. My name was being called – wrapped around his low groans and grunts. I was dripping wet for a whole new reason, not just because of the pool…

 _It must have been the bikini…_ It was the first time I’d worn it, and it was also the first time he’d seen so much of me. Everything made perfect sense. I mean, I knew I wasn’t bad on the eyes but he’d only ever seen me in the clothes I wore to school.

And now that I’d lost weight, I knew that I looked better than before, despite the embarrassment that Hannah’s praise gave me, and the insecurities I still felt when I looked in the mirror. My body felt hot as I realized that the bikini must have gotten to him.

I wasn’t a child anymore. I mean, I had graduated high school today, and I was turning eighteen in a few weeks. All of those things raced through my mind as I tried to comprehend him saying my name.

His grunts getting faster was what pulled me from my reverie. I didn’t even realize that I was clenching my thighs so hard together to stop my own arousal from dripping down my legs. I was practically panting like a bitch in heat as I finally heard him let go.

He let out a half yell, and a grunt as I heard his voice relax through the sound of his hand running the length of his cock. I was beyond aroused at the pure sound of it all. The soft pull and release of his length through his hand, the deep exhales from his mouth as he willed his body to calm down.

I could practically imagine the way his hard body was tensed to prolong the pleasure of his climax.

I bit my lip tightly, clenching my legs together one last time as I finally forced myself to move away. I didn’t know how I was supposed to face Hannah after what I’d just witnessed with her father.

All I knew was that he wasn’t going to be the only one masturbating tonight with someone’s name on their lips.

.

**Lol, me neither… ;)**


	2. One: In Which She Is Granted Refuge

**ONE: In Which She Is Granted Refuge**

**Seven Years Later**

**Kingsley**

The plane had been hell. You’d think that a direct flight from Madrid to LA would have been easy enough to handle but apparently not.

A woman in the first-class cabin got violently sick everywhere and they had to do an emergency landing. Turns out she had some virus that was super contagious and they had to cleanse the whole plane.

So, then they stuck us on another flight out, but that was only after having to wait for twelve hours in quarantine at the airport while they tried to determine if anyone else might get sick with various types of testing.

The whole thing made me more than frustrated.

 _Why was I going back home again?_ I asked myself. None of it was feeling very worth it at this point. _Oh right… you’re broke._

I rolled my eyes at myself. After they’d found us a new flight home and cleared us all for travel, we’d been assigned new seats. I ended up next to some guy who snored louder than the engines. Tuning him out was an impossibility and I spent the next nine hours of the flight watching _The Office_ with subtitles on because there was no way I could hear it. And there was absolutely no chance of me catching a single wink of sleep.

When I arrived at LAX, I didn’t have anyone waiting for me. I’d spent the last of my money on the flight home, with only enough saved up to get a cab fare to somewhere from the airport. It was going to be crazy expensive. I sighed and pulled out my phone, dialing the number that I knew by heart.

I listened to it ring three times before she finally picked up.

“KINGI!!!” she screamed down the phone. I winced and had to hold the damn thing away from my head. I reckon that if I’d left the phone in Spain, I still would’ve been able to hear her.

I chuckled to myself as she calmed down.

“Hannah Banana,” I smiled happily. However loud she was, her voice was a welcome and comfortable sound for me after so long away from home. Seven years was a lot.

I’d spent my first year abroad with my aunt in London, getting odd jobs here and there to pay her back for supporting me. She was my mother’s sister, and she knew about the trouble at home which was why she’d been more than happy to take me in.

After that, though, I’d found work with a travel agency and saved up enough money to move to Scotland. Then I spent some time in Ireland, exploring the rolling green hills and the moors. Then I found my way to a tiny little town in Italy that saw maybe ten tourists a year. Then it was to Portugal, then Paris. I vacationed in Greece for a while, and Hannah had even joined me there for a week or two with her new boyfriend.

Then I’d spent the last little while in Madrid, unable to find work that wanted me for more than a month or two. So, after flitting through three or four different jobs in the city, I finally decided it might be time to come home.

Well that, and Hannah had practically begged me to come back.

I couldn’t blame her. If it was me, I’d want my best friend at my wedding, too. Turns out that the boyfriend I’d met in Greece – Noah was his name – proposed to her early this year. They had a June wedding set for next year and I couldn’t have been happier for her. Noah seemed like a nice enough guy.

“So, how was the flight? I was kind of expecting a call from you yesterday…”

I sighed down the line. “Yeah… long story that I’m way to jetlagged to get into right now,” I said, picking up my bag and walking to the taxi line.

“Oh,” she chuckled. “That bad, huh?”

I nodded down the line, making a non-committal huff of noise. Hannah chuckled down the line.

“Okay, well where are you headed? Do you need someone to come and pick you up?” she asked.

“No, it’s okay, I was just going to catch a taxi.”

I listened to Hannah pause over the phone.

“And, uhhh… where is it going to take you?” she asked, her voice quiet with a tinge of sadness. I frowned. I could hear the unspoken question.

_Are you going back to your parent’s house?_

They didn’t even know I was coming back. As far as they were concerned, I had left for Europe with no intention to ever come back. I didn’t want to go back to that house anyway.

After living with my Aunt Stacey, I’d seen what a functional household could look like and I wasn’t ready to put myself through the emotional abuse that I’d endured all throughout highschool.

My parents still hadn’t finalized their divorce, even after all this time. And they still lived together. From what Stacey had told me, the house was still as toxic as when I’d left. I couldn’t go back there.

“I don’t know… umm, probably a motel or something…” I trailed off.

I could practically feel Hannah rolling her eyes over the phone.

“Really?” her tone judgemental. “And what? You’re just gonna stay there forever? You can’t afford that, babe…”

I sighed down the line. “Well, I don’t know then, Han. I just–”

“Hang on a second, I’ve got a call waiting,” Hannah interrupted me. I sighed, looking down at my bag. “Just sit tight for a sec, babe. I’ll be just a second.”

“Mmmhmm,” I sighed before listening to her change lines. I managed to find a spot in the taxi line, taking a step forward every few moments. There was still a hundred or so people in front of me, though. Today was just going _great_. Note the sarcasm.

“Kingsley?” I heard my name called.

“Yeah, I’m here, Han.”

“Oh, good, I thought I’d lost you for a sec there,” she said. Her voice was back to sounding happy again. It made me wonder who she’d been on the phone with.

“That was Noah,” she said, answering my unspoken question.

“Oh yeah?” I grinned. “How is that handsome fiancé of yours?”

Hannah chuckled down the line. “He’s good, just finishing up at the clinic for the day,” she said. Noah was studying to be a doctor as well. The two had met at medical school shortly after she and Jeremy had broken up. They’d been inseparable since. He was doing some volunteer hours at a free clinic downtown that was for those who couldn’t afford health care. “He actually gave me a great idea when I told him I was on the phone with you.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked.

“Mmmhmm,” she agreed. “I was going to invite you to come stay with us, but I didn’t want it to be weird for you to be a third wheel. When I suggested it to Noah, his exact words were ‘I think we can come up with somewhere that has an available room.’ And it got me thinking…”

“Yeah?” I asked. I was honestly up for anything at this point.

“Well, you can totally say no if you want, but if you say yes it’ll obviously only be for a few weeks until we can get you back on your feet,” she said. I rolled my eyes.

“Yeah, just spit it out, Han,” I chuckled. Hannah giggled down the phone.

“Well, I thought maybe you could go and stay at my house?”

I paused, frowning. “I’m confused… I thought that that’s exactly what you were trying to avoid…?”

Hannah laughed down the phone. “No, not me and Noah’s house. I mean my old house. You know… where my dad lives?”

My jaw dropped as I took in her offer.

“You know he never had a problem with you before. And actually, you’d be doing me a huge favor. I don’t think he’s left the house in months and I’m getting worried about him. He tells me he’s fine over the phone but I just think that he needs to be checked up on, you know?”

I was stunned, I didn’t know how to answer.

“Kingi? You still there?” Hannah echoed down the phone and I snapped out of my reverie.

“No. Yeah, I’m still here,” I managed to get out. “Your dad’s house…? Are you sure…? –That wouldn’t be like… _weird_ or anything?” I tried to push the one thought probing at the edge of my mind. The one that was trying to remind me of when I’d last seen Flynn Forbes.

Hannah chuckled down the line. “Why would it be weird? You practically lived with us in highschool. Plus, I’m sure he won’t even notice you’re there.”

I bit my lip slightly. “Uhmmm, okay – well, have you asked _him_?”

“Nah, but I’ll text him. You can sleep in my room if you want, or you can take the guest bedroom. He forced me to move your old bed back in there on the first night that Noah stayed over,” she chuckled. “He was real imminent on having us sleep in separate rooms. It didn’t really stop anything though, if you know what I mean.”

I rolled my eyes. “Disgusting,” I grinned. Hannah just laughed down the phone.

“No, it’ll be fine, there’s nothing to be worried about. If there’s anything my dad is good at, it’s avoiding everyone else in the house, so you guys should be fine.”

I bit my lip for another moment, my eyes flitting to the slow moving line for the taxis. With a sigh, I nodded.

“Yeah… okay, Hannah,” I said. “Thanks so much for this.” I could do this. I could live with her dad. It was only for a few weeks anyway. Just until I could find a job to support my own apartment.

There’s plenty of jobs out there for a girl who’s never been to college and spent the last seven years with the most sketchy CV out there, right...? I couldn’t even hold down a job for more than two months overseas… well, except for the travel agent job. That one had been fun.

I’d only left it because organizing holidays for so many other people had inspired me to explore Europe on my own.

“Yay!” Hannah squealed down the phone. “Oh, babe, it’s no problem at all! I mean it’s the least that I can do to repay you for keeping me sane the last few years at college.”

“I mean I wasn’t alone,” I laughed. “I’m sure Noah helped some.”

Hannah chuckled slyly. “I mean, you guys had _very_ different methods of helping me cope.” I could practically hear the insinuation in her voice and I scoffed.

“Disgusting!” I repeated with a laugh. “I’m hanging up on you now.” I moved further up in the taxi line, at least glad that I now had a destination in mind. I just prayed I’d have enough for the fare to get all the way to Hannah’s old house. It was a fair way from the airport.

Hannah laughed down the phone. “Okay, babe. I’ll let you go. I’m so fucking glad you’re back in LA. Like this is actually going to be so much fun to have my best friend back.”

I smiled, nodding in agreement. “Absolutely.”

“Okay, so text me when you get to my place. I’ll let my dad know that you’re coming. But then again, if he doesn’t answer the door, you still know where the key is, right?”

I grinned. “In the fake rock at the bottom of the water feature?”

Hannah chuckled. “Yup. At least you know that his hiding places haven’t changed,” she laughed. I rolled my eyes. Typical.

“Okay, well I’m gonna try and get a cab then,” I said. “I’ll text you.” Hannah said her last goodbyes, blowing me a raspberry kiss through the phone before hanging up. I couldn’t explain the feeling in my chest when the line clicked dead. I was just glad that my friend could still be there for me.

She was a real life saver.

.

It took me another hour to get a cab, and then another hour and a half to get to Hannah’s dad’s place. I had about two dollars left to my name by the time I made it up the hill and into his estate.

He had one of those round drive-through driveways with the big feature in the middle. You know, the kind of ones that people who entertained a lot in movies used to valet their parking. When I say that Hannah’s dad is loaded… I mean he is _loaded._ The guy could’ve bought himself an island if he wanted to.

I walked past the big water fountain and up to the front double doors. I picked up the big knocker on the door and let it fall twice, hearing the loud resounding noise that it made.

I waited a few moments, but nothing happened. I sighed. I didn’t know why I bothered with the knocker when you couldn’t even hear it echo through the house. I eyed the electronic bell by the frame. I knew that that thing was wired through the whole house.

I pressed it twice, hearing the familiar ring tone follow through, then I waited some more. I sighed after a few moments of still nothing happening.

 _He’s probably not even home_ , I thought to myself. With a huge sigh, I abandoned my suitcase at the door and walked back down the front steps and back towards the fountain.

I cast my eyes over the bottom for a moment. The water was filtered through pebbles and rocks at the base, but only one of them had a hideaway key in it. The rock looked more plastic than the others, but it was really hard to tell, especially through the water. There were only about four or five other rocks in the whole fountain that were the same color though.

It only took a few minutes of trial and error to find the right one. But when I managed the pull the key from its hiding place – it was kind of a little stuck, something resounded behind me.

I looked up just as the front door swung open loudly and left someone standing in its frame. I tried not to let my jaw drop when I realized that Flynn Forbes was standing before me… shirtless. He was staring at me with a hard stare, his eyes narrowed. I’m not sure if I succeeded in my quest.

In fact… I dropped the key in my hand. It fell hopelessly to the ground, clinking on the cobblestones. I huffed and crouched down to pick it up. My cheeks flamed red as I kept my face angled away from him.

“Kingsley Martin?” he asked, his voice shocked. It was still as deep as I remembered. I tried not to let it remind me of the last time I’d heard him say my name. Or rather, when he’d grunted it around his climax.

I lifted my eyes, flipping my hair over my shoulder as I gave him a smile. I’d never been the confident type, but right now I needed to just not be the blushing little shy girl he’d always known.

“Uhh, yeah… Hi, Mr. Forbes,” I smiled.

“Hello,” he said, his voice still low. He didn’t correct me like he used to. His eyebrows were creased in the middle of his forehead in confusion. I was looking everywhere except his immaculate chest. The thing looked like it had been carved from marble.

I mean… no. He just uhm… he just looked good for his age.

 _So good_ , I thought. _And he’s only in his mid-thirties. Don’t be daft, Kingsley.”_

I shook the thoughts from my head.

“Were you looking for Hannah?” he asked. “Because, she doesn’t live here anymore…”

I frowned, my mouth parting slightly. “Oh, I know… I just–” I paused, looking at him carefully. “Hannah didn’t tell you?” I asked. “She said that she’d texted you.”

“About?”

I frowned. “I, uhh… I didn’t have anywhere to go. She thought you might be alright with me staying for a week or two…?” I hated how hopeful my voice sounded. Dependent was more like it.

I heard my request from how it would sound to his ears. He’d just managed to get rid of one daughter, why would he take in another, let alone someone else’s…

 _He certainly wasn’t thinking of you like a daughter when he came to the whisper of your name_ , I reminded myself. I bit my lip to stop those thoughts. It wasn’t working, though. And his appearance certainly wasn’t helping either.

He’d grown out his beard while I’d been away. It was trimmed close, but it was dark and it made him look rugged and sexy. His pants were just tight enough in all the right places and they fit him _well._ His hair was swept to the side, letting his curls congregate on one side of his head.

Hot was the only word that came to mind to describe him.

Flynn Forbes was _hot_. He didn’t look like he had a twenty-four-year-old daughter. Then again, he never had.

“How strange,” he said. “Her message must have slipped me by.”

I bit my lip, still hoping he’d let me stay. I really didn’t have anywhere else to go.

“I, uhhh… I suppose you can stay,” he said, then something seemed to click and he looked hard at me, narrowing his eyes again. “She sent you to check up on me, didn’t she?”

There was a slight quirk to his top lip, as if he were about to laugh.

“I– no. I mean, well, she just kind of offered me a place,” I said, lying through my teeth. “Just ‘til I can find a job.”

Flynn gave a slight roll to his eyes but inclined his head in a soft nod. “Alright. Well come in, then.”

He picked up my suitcase from where it sat next to him and he pulled it inside, holding the door open for me to follow him. I quickly put his safety key bag together and threw it into the fountain. Then I was rushing up the three steps to walk in the door.

When I made it inside, I was overcome with the immediate feeling of familiarity. I felt like I was home, as weird as that sounded.

Flynn was standing by the door, closing it behind me as I turned around to face him.

“Thank you,” I said. He nodded as he dropped his bag and headed past me, towards the staircase.

He waved off my words. “I’m sure you remember where everything is,” he said. I looked back down at my bag to pick it up as he spoke. “Take any bedroom you’d like, they’re all fully furnished. Then you can report back to my paranoid daughter that I’m alive.”

My lips parted to correct him, to tell him that I really wasn’t here to check up on him. But he was already gone; the last I saw of him was his feet taking the last few steps upstairs. I heard his bedroom door close softly and I was left standing alone in the giant foyer.

With a sigh, I looked around with my bag in my hands. I was about to walk towards the stairs to find a bedroom when I felt something against my leg. I looked down and smiled.

The soft grey thing was winding itself between my legs, leaning on me and letting his tail wrap around me. My eyes glinted with memory as I leaned down to run my fingers over the cat’s head and down the length of his back to his tail.

He gave a soft mewl and arched his hind up to meet my hand as he awaited scratches.

“Hi Botticelli, do you remember me, huh?” I smiled, continuing to pet the cat. He had always been the more affectionate one of Hannah’s cats. He was a Russian Blue with those mesmerizing grey-green eyes. His coat had always felt like velvet to me, and he’d always been down for a couch cuddle. All he wanted in return for his company was for you to love on him.

Having never had a pet of my own, I was more than happy to give it to him.

Unlike Hannah’s other cat, Matisse. She was a Bengal cat who enjoyed her own company. I’d only actually seen her around the house a handful of times. Hannah had once told me that she preferred to spend her time down in Flynn’s study because it was cooler in the basement.

I got the feeling that Matisse might have been Flynn’s favorite, which was why Botticelli was always so friendly with the other people in the house. It was understandable, Matisse had been his first cat. He’d gotten her when Hannah was just a kid, I think to give her a friend because he wasn’t comfortable spending time with her yet.

The plan had backfired because Matisse had liked him more than Hannah, which was why he got Botticelli. Botticelli loved everybody.

I smiled as I gave him one last scratch on the head before standing up straight again. With a long exhale, I bit my lip and picked my things up again. Botticelli made a noise of disappointment, but then followed me as I made my way towards the stairs. At the top, I paused briefly outside Flynn’s room, in exactly the spot I’d stood the last time I’d been in this house.

I blushed profusely before I moved. There was something about standing there that sent and tingle up my spine. I picked the guest room and headed in, closing the door behind me after Botticelli had come in. Then I leant my back against the door and let out a big sigh.

In that moment, my jetlag caught up with me. This day had been emotionally draining.

I needed sleep.

More importantly, I needed to get the image of Flynn’s _immaculate_ bare chest out of my mind.

I threw myself down on the bed, willing sleep to invade as I tried to push the picture from my mind, ignoring the way that it made my pussy clench with memory.

.

**Trust me, babe… _Everyone’s_ clenching with anticipation of what’s to come ;)**


	3. Two: In Which She Overhears Him

**TWO: In Which She Overhears Him**

**Kingsley**

I hadn’t had much to do around the house over the next week, I must say. In all honesty, I had been completely surprised when I’d opened my bank account on the first morning where I could find the strength to even lift a hand since my hellish trip from Spain.

Hannah had sent me a sum of money with a little note attached.

**Just a little something to hold your head up until you can get a job :) I hope my dad wasn’t too rude when you got there? – H**

My jaw had dropped at the message and at the number now being displayed on my screen. She was way too generous. I had sent her a quick message after I’d had a shower, trying to get her to take the money back. When she declined, I had huffed, swallowed my pride and thanked her. Then I promised profusely that I would pay her back as soon as I could find a job.

Then, I had spent the rest of the week using her money to pay for cabs and buses and literally anything to get me around town for job interviews. I had a few places interested in the experience that I had, but none with openings for me to take up a more permanent position.

Apparently the fact that I’d not been able to actually hold down a job for more than a few weeks over the last few years was off-putting to everyone I’d interviewed with. One had said it showed a ‘lack of professionalism and commitment’. I had wanted to stab him.

Now, on a Sunday, most businesses around weren’t open and so I was left to lounge around Flynn Forbes’ ridiculously huge house. I hadn’t seen him since he’d let me stay here. The only evidence there was even someone in this house with me was that he seemed to not ever close cupboards.

Every time I walked into the kitchen, there was always at least one drawer or cupboard that was wide open. Hannah hadn’t been wrong when she said he kept incredibly to himself. It was even worse now than it had been when we were in high school.

At least then, he’d still made an effort to check up on us at least once a day. Now it was like radio silence.

I guess it was to be expected. He must have gotten used to living that way once Hannah had moved out. It was a little curious, because when you first met him, he didn’t seem like the kind of guy to enjoy a hermit lifestyle.

He didn’t seem like a loner.

Actually, he was quite charismatic if you spoke to him for more than five minutes. I’d never actually spoken to him for that long myself, but I’d been to one of his art shows with Hannah and had watched how he interacted with clients.

He was able to sell his work with ease. Just a flash of that crooked smile and suddenly his works had red sticker dots on them, meaning they were sold. It was crazy, like he was two different people.

Or like he was saving up all of conversing quota for the year by not talking to anyone until he was giving something to him. Either way, I was soaking it up.

The quiet in the house actually made me feel alone, and while I knew it was bad, I couldn’t help but daydream that this mansion was all mine. The freedom of having your own space, and for me being able to stay away from my own parents. That feeling gave me a high I couldn’t explain.

Which was why I was enjoying Flynn’s pool as he was holed up somewhere in the house – probably his studio.

The cool water was inviting. I had decided to partake in swimming laps for a while, simply for having nothing else to do. Then after a bit, I got bored and just decided to float. He had one of those infinity pools with a great view, so I even ended up just standing at the edge and enjoying the million dollar view.

It was insane.

He had all of this and didn’t even use any of it. He didn’t delight in the fruits of his labor. I couldn’t understand it.

From behind me, I heard something clatter and I spun around quickly. Surely it wasn’t Botticelli, who was curled up sleeping in the sun on one of the patio chairs, simply enjoying my nearby company.

No. I squinted in the afternoon light, my eyes adjusting to see through the open glass door. To my surprise, Flynn was standing there with a ceramic plate in his hands.

His knife and fork were on the ground, obviously what he’d dropped.

He bent down slowly to pick them up, avoiding looking at me. I couldn’t help but feel my cheeks pinken at the simple act. I didn’t know why, it wasn’t like there was anything wrong with it.

Maybe it was just the fact that I hadn’t seen him in almost a week.

Plus, the fact that I was wearing the only bathing suit I owned, which just happened to be the one that I’d worn the last time I went swimming in this pool. The memories swirled inside my mind.

I wondered if he remembered. Why did I hope that he did?

“Hi,” I managed to say, my voice light. It sounded weird to my own ears. Unconsciously, I dipped lower under the water so that just my head was up. As if that would cover me up. I mentally slapped myself in the head. _The water is see-through, idiot._

Flynn looked up, his lip twitching.

“Good afternoon,” he said, his voice scratching slightly with misuse. “I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

I quickly shook my head, wrapping my arms over my chest.

“Oh! Not at all,” I smiled and felt my neck heat up. “I was just looking out at the view…”

Flynn nodded. We were silent for a while. I could see him fidgeting with the cutlery in his hands for a moment.

Awkward. That was a word I’d use to describe us in that moment. I couldn’t help it.

After a moment, he gave me one last nod and silently walked out of view. My jaw dropped and I craned my head to see where he went but there was no use. I couldn’t help feeling somewhat let down by our conversation.

Frowning, I ran a hand through my hair and moved to the edge of the pool, lifting myself out. Botticelli huffed with indignation when I had to shuffle him over to reach for my towel. I gave him a quick scratch behind the ears as I tried unsuccessfully to wrap the towel around myself.

I eventually got it secured and then walked inside in the direction Flynn had gone.

I found him in the kitchen, hunched over and leaning heavily on the bench. His stance allowed me to see the powerful muscles in his arms as he held himself steady. I leant against the door frame – making sure my towel was adjusted properly – then I cleared my throat.

Flynn spun around at the sound. If I wasn’t mistaken, I saw a hint of red at the tips of his ears as his eyes laid over my body. I was covered up – sure – but he knew what was underneath. He tore his eyes up to mine lightning quick, but he couldn’t hide the fact that he’d just checked me out.

I was not this brazen, but I couldn’t let him make me blush.

“I uhh… I just wanted to thank you again,” I said. “For letting me stay.”

Flynn didn’t say anything, just relaxed into the bench behind him. He crossed his arms over his chest and nodded once. I bit my lip. He really didn’t make anything easy.

“I trust you’ve made yourself comfortable?”

I nodded quickly. “Yeah. And uhm– I’ll be out of your hair soon, hopefully. I’ve been interviewing with different places all week trying to find a job so as soon as I get one, I’ll be able to move out into a place I can afford.”

Flynn regarded me with hard eyes. Those eyes were unforgiving. They were a tawny color, I realized. I had always thought they were hazel, but now that I could see them in the afternoon light, they were more of a dull gold – an in between of light brown and a pale color I’d only ever associated with a wheat field or something.

The realization stunned me for a moment and I missed what he’d said.

He huffed out a small chuckle as he noticed I wasn’t listening.

“I’m sorry, what?” I asked, a smile edging at my lips. I wanted to hide the embarrassment on my face but I could help it. I couldn’t believe I’d gotten that caught up in one aspect of his looks and completely ignored him.

“I said it’s fine. Stay as long as you need to. We won’t get into each other’s way, anyway,” he repeated. My mouth parted in a shape of recognition and I felt myself nodding.

“Oh… okay, well thanks,” I said, my voice slightly lower. I appreciated the favor he was granting me.

He shrugged in response. I couldn’t help it as we fell into silence again. It was hard not to with him, because he didn’t really initiate conversation all that much. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable, it was just something I didn’t really know how to break.

It felt like he was either waiting for me to say something else, or he was waiting for me to leave. Or maybe even waiting for a chance to leave himself.

Either way, I knew when I wasn’t wanted. I nodded once, eyeing him up without realizing I was doing it.

“Okay, well I’ll let you get back to whatever you were up to,” I said, backing from the room slightly. I almost tripped over Botticelli, who was standing right behind my legs. He gave a noise of annoyance at me before weaving into the kitchen. At the sight of Flynn, he made a happy sound before I watched him jump up onto the bench. He wandered over and Flynn folded the cat into his arms.

My jaw dropped slightly as I watched the two of them. I had never seen Flynn show anything that kind of affection before.

Hell, I’d never even seen him give his own daughter a hug.

Flynn wasn’t really paying attention to the cat, though. His eyes were on me as he scratched Botticelli absentmindedly. The cat didn’t seem to mind, simply basking in the attention he was getting.

With a hot flush in my cheeks – and one in my panties that I couldn’t explain – I gave one last nod and hurried out of view. My feet took me upstairs to my bedroom, trying to ignore the way his eyes had followed me as I left the room.

I quickly got myself changed out of my wet bathers and into some more comfortable – let alone presentable – clothing. It wasn’t long before Botticelli was making noises at my door, demanding to be let in and simultaneously letting me know that Flynn had disappeared off into the house again.

.

Hours later, I was bored and couldn’t sleep. The sun had set a long time ago and I’d entertained myself by uploading photos from Europe to some of my Facebook albums. I had been meaning to do it for ages, but I’d never had the time. Now it seemed like time was the thing I had most of in the world.

With a sigh, I pulled myself from my bed and left my room. The entire house was dark and empty but I didn’t care.

I knew Flynn hadn’t gone to bed yet. I hadn’t even heard him come upstairs so I wondered if he even knew it was past midnight. The only reason I was still up was because I was still feeling a little bit of jetlag.

I made my way downstairs, searching that level of the house. There was a hat rack that scared the shit out of me because it looked like a person in the dark but it wasn’t.

Eventually, I found myself standing at the top of the stairs that I knew led down to the basement, or rather, led down to Flynn’s studio.

I didn’t know why I suddenly wanted to see him, or why he was even still working at this hour, but something was pulling me down towards his studio. Maybe it was curiosity. I hadn’t seen any of his work in years.

And neither had anyone in the public. To wait seven years for a new piece from him was making some art critics go wild over the internet. Yeah, sue me, I had google him while I’d been upstairs.

He was a guy who had been marveled at for his craft at such a young age. He’d made enough money with only two major pieces in his entire career to be able to retire. It made me wonder why he was spending so much time down there.

I wanted to know what he was working on. Hannah had never mentioned anything, which told me that maybe she hadn’t bothered to ask. But I couldn’t help the bud of curiosity that tugged at my insides.

With a large intake of breath, I headed down into the darkness. When I made it down there, there was a corridor that led to the door of his studio. I had a hand on each wall beside me to navigate until I made it to the door.

There was a strip of warm yellow light at the bottom where the gap between the floor and the door was. There was something so inviting about that light.

My eyes widened as I realized that I could hear something from inside. It was faint, but it was unmistakable. My cheeks reddened as I realized that I recognized that sound.

It was all too familiar and my lips parted as I listened to him.

But then I frowned. It was the same sound, but it was also different. It was more measured, slower, more methodical. So, before my brain could register it was happening, my fist was knocking on the door.

The noise that he was making ceased. It was followed by a moment of silence. A moment of hesitation. A moment of curiosity. And then…

“Come in.”

His voice was low and slightly muffled through the door but I heeded his message. My hand found the door handle and I turned it, pushing the door open. The first thing I noticed was how bright it was inside. And how big.

The whole basement was the size of the entire downstairs floor of the house, except it was all one room.

The second thing I noticed were the hundreds of boxes of paperclips that were stacked up against the far wall. I turned slightly and then I finally saw him.

He was sitting at the other end of the room. He was on top of a weightlifting bench, with an abandoned rack behind him. Surrounding him was a bunch of other workout equipment and machines.

He was back to not wearing a shirt, and even from here, I could see the glisten of his skin from his sweat. It made him look slightly golden too.

I couldn’t help the flood of arousal that filled me at the sight. I pretended that my dropped jaw was in awe of the size of the room. I tore my eyes from his and looked around a bit more.

The place was a mess, yet it was organized at the same time. I didn’t really know what I expected from him, but this wasn’t it. Flynn wasn’t a painter type artist, and yet the entire concrete floor was stained with splashes of colorful paint and scratches and dried up bits of clay.

The walls were plastered with sheets of paper with designs for his new piece all over them, as well as diagrams and mathematics determining size and weight of his previous work.

He had always been an awe inspiring artist. He was a sculptor, but in a way you wouldn’t expect.

“Sorry to interrupt,” I said, my voice slightly shocked at the magnitude of his work. I felt like I’d taken a step inside his brain. I could see Flynn shaking his head from my peripheral vision.

“It’s not a problem,” he said, his voice hoarse from what I assumed was the workout he’d just been doing. I couldn’t help it as my feet carried me across the floor to the piece he was working on.

It wasn’t fully assembled because there was no way that it could be. I mean, the space was large, but nowhere near big enough to house one of his pieces.

I reached my hand up to trace the curves of the metal. It was cool to touch.

“It’s not finished,” he said. I flinched at his voice. He was much closer than I expected. I turned my head slightly and he was right beside me, close enough that we could have brushed shoulders.

He had put on a shirt, hiding his muscles away from me, but he couldn’t hide the frown on his face. It was interesting watching him watch his own artwork.

The look on his face told me two things. The first was that he was frustrated. I got the feeling that the sculpture wasn’t doing what he had wanted it to do in his head.

The second thing was also frustration, but it felt a little different, like it was something else. His eyebrows were creased and there was a tightness to the way he stood. If I looked down, I could swear I knew his hands were clenched at his sides.

Like I said, frustrated, but I couldn’t figure out why.

“It’s beautiful,” I said. I wasn’t lying. The piece was definitely beautiful. It was as rugged as his last few works, but I couldn’t really figure out what it was. I knew I wasn’t seeing the whole picture, because it wasn’t all assembled, but something told me that even Flynn didn’t really know what it was yet.

I knew it was his third piece in this particular set, just because of what it was made of.

Flynn had first risen to fame with a replica of Michelangelo’s statue of David. It was to size and everything, but it was impressive because the entire thing had been sculpted from thousands and thousands of paperclips. He had replicated every ridge and every bump and ever curl on David’s head to perfection.

It had been huge.

He’d finished it at age seventeen, and debuted it outside one of Los Angeles’ best art galleries overnight. He’d gotten permission from the gallery to display it, and even had a security guard paid to watch over it, but the sculpture had been the most exciting thing to happen in the art world in years.

The guerilla style of its placement had delighted so many people, and given Flynn so much clout and sway in his field, before he was even a legal adult. It was crazy.

He’d done the same thing a few years later with a sculpture that he’d titled ‘Linked’, which was the one that I had gone to with Hannah. It had been this giant willow tree, made again completely of paperclips. It had been made to symbolize the connections between everyone and everything. It was humongous and so stable that people were allowed to even climb all over it, because he knew it could withstand all the weight.

He had debuted it in the middle of a park, completely unawares to everyone, and the media had gone crazy. They didn’t know if it was meant to be interactive or simply symbolic, but all I knew was that it had made everyone go crazy about what his next piece might be.

I didn’t know if I could ever handle that kind of pressure, so I commended him for it, but now it felt like the pressure was exactly what was getting to him.

He had done a few small exhibits here and there to keep up his name in the public eye, but never anything to the scale of his first big pieces. It was why he stood so tense in front of this one right now.

“It’s giving me a headache,” he admitted as he looked over at the piece. We had both been quiet for a while. I finally tore my eyes from the paperclips and looked over at him. His jaw was clenched and his lip was almost close enough to be worried between his teeth in thought.

He was beautiful too.

I cringed at my own brain. I wasn’t allowed to have these kinds of thoughts about my best friend’s father. Not even after I’d just interrupted his sweating and groaning over lifting weights.

Now I knew where his impossible body came from.

It must have been a stress reliever.

My mind twigged and I smirked to myself as I thought of something else that could be a stress reliever too. Then I mentally slapped myself as a blush called to the tips of my ears.

“I’ve got some Tylenol upstairs?” I offered. Flynn seemed to chuckle slightly at the offer as he shook his head.

“Figure of speech,” he said. I frowned, but nodded. Then I moved away from the sculpture and from him. His body was making me feel hot all over, and I could feel the hair on my arms raising the longer that I stood so close to him.

I wandered over to his walls, admiring the different sketches and artworks there. There were a few doodles, as well as some notes scribbled in tiny cramped handwriting. It was crazy. I don’t know why I’d always imagined his handwriting to be large and loopy, but the shock of seeing something different made my eyebrows raise.

I smiled when my gaze landed on a baby photo of Hannah that was scattered in and under and between torn bits of paper that were tacked to the wall. In the photo, she didn’t even have hair yet. Flynn was holding her in his arms. My smile felt sad as I fingered the photo.

He’d just been a kid when he’d become a father, and in that picture he looked more like a happy big brother than he did the father of a child. I could feel Flynn’s eyes on me as I traced my finger over the picture.

There was an insurmountable amount of love in his eyes as he looked at his newborn daughter in the photo. It made me wonder why he’d been so distant with her for the rest of her life.

“That was the only day that I’d held Hannah before her mother died,” he said, his voice low behind me. I turned around and watched him. His hands had found a way to his pockets and he shrugged my way. My jaw dropped.

I hadn’t known that.

“I thought she stayed in town with Hannah for a while before she left…?”

Flynn frowned and shook his head. “No, my parents thought it better that I have a normal childhood and that Hannah be taken away forever. It was only when her mother died, and I had just turned eighteen that I finally met her again.”

I crossed my arms over my chest as I watched him.

“And suddenly there was this six-year-old kid with the biggest mouth standing on my doorstep. She could’ve talked my ear off if she’d tried hard enough.” There was a small smile on his lips as he spoke.

“If I hadn’t technically been an adult, or if I hadn’t just sold that first piece, my parents would have put her into foster care,” he said. “Lucky as it was, I bought this place and could bring her here.”

I took in his words. Hannah had never said anything about either of her sets of grandparents. It made me wonder if they were around still, or if they’d ever even been in the picture.

“I still wonder some days whether she might have been better off in someone else’s care,” he said. Then he shrugged. “But I don’t know. She showed up on my door, clutching that fucking picture in her hand and there was just something about it. I couldn’t find it in me to turn her away.”

I ran a hand through my hair as I watched Flynn. He sat down in a nearby chair, shooing Matisse – his other cat – out of the way. She gave a noise of annoyance before prancing over to a pile of blankets on the floor to lie down.

I didn’t say anything for a while, simply taking his admission in.

“I didn’t know any of that,” I said. “Hannah never spoke about your parents.”

Flynn shrugged, crossing his arms as he looked my way. “They’re not here,” he said simply. I frowned but nodded once after a beat.

“I don’t think you’ve done a bad job with her, by the way,” I smiled. “I think she turned out pretty great if you ask me.”

Flynn looked at me, his eyes boring into mine before he gave a quick huff of laughter.

He nodded once. He didn’t say anything, but his eyes were on mine. There was something else about the way he was looking at me that I couldn’t explain. Like he was trying to figure me out.

Or maybe I was projecting, because I was doing the same.

I wanted to know what the hell was going on inside his head. I didn’t know why I’d come down here. I probably shouldn’t have.

“I’ll uh… I should probably head to bed,” I said. “I was just um… I guess I was just curious about what keeps you down here all day,” I bullshitted. Flynn gave me one last long look, his eyes dragging down my body for a moment before he tore his eyes away.

“Okay,” he nodded. “I hope you were satisfied with what you found?”

My lips parted slightly. There was something about his words that sounded off. He didn’t particularly sound like he hadn’t enjoyed my company, but then again, it had always been hard to tell with him.

He was a hard nut to crack, and he was always so polite that it only made it harder to figure out. With a last bite of my lip I nodded. He wasn’t watching me. He was fiddling with something on a nearby desk.

“Yeah… I did,” I said, my voice trailing off. I sighed inwardly and moved towards the door. “I’ll just leave you to it, then,” I muttered. As I was closing the door behind me, I closed my eyes for a moment, gathering my courage.

“Flynn?” I asked. His head moved up, his eyes slightly wide with the shock of the first time I’d ever used his actual name.

“Yes, Kingsley?”

I bit my lip. “You know that Hannah loves you… right?”

He took in my words for a moment. His eyes were hard and I could see his hesitation in the way that his shoulders held firm.

“Yes, I do,” he finally said. I bit my lip once more and nodded, before I finally shut the door behind me. When alone in the dark, I let myself heave a sigh. I don’t know why I’d felt the need to say it, but there had been something in his voice when I’d found that photo.

Something unsure and something insecure about his relationship with his daughter maybe? I couldn’t tell.

I was glad I’d said it, though. With a small smile to myself, I made my way up to bed.

I fell asleep to the memory of his grunts and his delectable sweaty chest. The steel of his voice was hard in my head as I drifted off. The strength of his tone and of his character. The way he’d stood up to his parents.

He was admirable.

I couldn’t stop my infatuation with him if I’d tried.

.

**I don’t think I can either, Kingsley ;)**


	4. Three: In Which She Takes A Dip

**THREE: In Which She Takes A Dip**

**Kingsley**

I raised my hand to cover my mouth as the other fidgeted below the sheets. I was trying to keep myself quiet because I knew how thin the walls were, but I knew that when I got to the other end of this little self-exploration, I didn’t know what kind of sound might come out of my mouth.

Using two fingers, I split my lips apart and allowed myself to tease and I slowly let my fingers caress my inner walls in a slow thrust. I didn’t sink them inside me yet, just let myself slowly work myself up as I glided them through my lips.

I was slick down there, and I knew if I lifted the sheets, I’d be able to smell the musky aroma of my own arousal. I knew I shouldn’t have been doing this, especially knowing that Flynn might overhear me, but for some reason I didn’t care.

I had seen a different side of him last night. One that had spoken more than two words to me for once. He had actually opened up to me and I’d been able to see how he really cared for things.

How he was feeling so much pressure to live up to the hype of his last art piece.

How much he loved Hannah. And always had.

How much hurt he’d been carrying around since her birth.

I couldn’t imagine that he’d had it easy. I mean, I didn’t know the full details of the situation over how he became a father. But, girls who were nineteen didn’t just sleep with twelve year old boys.

I knew there was something there that Flynn had possibly never told anyone. It definitely wasn’t a story that Hannah knew, because there was no way she could have kept that secret from me.

But, the fact that there was a secret there, was very obvious. It had to have been part of why his parents didn’t want him to have any contact with Hannah. And then it had to be the reason that he hadn’t spoken to them in almost twenty years.

 _It’s none of your business…_ I thought to myself. I let out a small gasp as my fingernail nudged my clit accidentally.

I knew it wasn’t any of my business, but it didn’t stop me from craving his answers. Or just craving him in general.

He had been a proverbial itch I couldn’t scratch for years, ever since I’d walked past his room and overheard him.

And I’d seen a part of that last night. I couldn’t get him out of my head. The way he looked at me yesterday in my swimsuit, the way he’d stood so close to me in the studio. There was something there that I couldn’t put my finger on. But I was desperate.

And that’s how I ended up here.

I’d tossed and turned all night, my body on edge because of him. He was enticing and so fucking tempting and he was off limits.

Never mind the fact that I’d never actually do anything about it. The man was incredibly hot, but he was my best friend’s dad, never mind the fact that he was really only old enough to be her older brother.

And while my name had been on his lips that one single day that he’d masturbated to the thought of me, I could almost guarantee that he hadn’t given me a single thought since that day.

And now I was back here, in his house, alone with him. And all these feelings were rushing through me at four in the morning. It was still dark outside for Christ’s sake!

My lips let a small, subdued moan filter through as I dipped my finger into my kitty, up to my first knuckle. That shit felt so good. I wasn’t normally one to engage in masturbation, but I thought that maybe this might help me a little.

Living in this house of sexual tension – even if I only felt it on my end – was enough to drive a girl crazy. My breath came out in pants as I ground the small length of part of my finger into me.

I clamped my hand over my mouth as my finger retreated slowly and then sunk back in, a little further this time.

My eyes were squeezed shut and my toes were clenched as I started to ride my own hand. It was in that moment that I wished I had a dildo or something to use. My fingers just weren’t going to cut it, they weren’t thick enough.

I pushed my finger fully inside me, letting out a long breath as my stomach tightened. I felt full, but unsatisfied. My imagination was running wild with thoughts of what Flynn’s cock might look like, what it might feel like, that my finger just wasn’t doing me justice.

Frustrated and frowning, I let my hand retreat from my kitty, adding a second finger and thrusting deep.

Still not enough.

A third finger was closer, but still not quite there. It was the best I was willing to go for, though. I didn’t want to risk being too loud.

So, I let myself be worked over by my hand, going at the exact speed and depth that I knew would get me there. My other hand retreated from my mouth and slid down my body.

I teased my own perky nipples between my fingers, tweaking and pinching to make those zings of pleasure sing down to my core. My clit was practically throbbing by the time my hand made it down there.

As I rode my hand, I let myself pinch my clit in my other, abusing the sensitive nub and rubbing hard.

“Oh, _shit_ ,” I whispered to myself, feeling my back arch. I felt helpless as I felt my orgasm racing quickly towards me. My naked nipples brushed against my sheet, feeling every tug and pull as my body moved in time with my thrusts.

My hips swirled and circled with my hand, grinding into myself. My fingers were slick and I scissored them inside me, needing more. I would have taken anything at that point.

My legs bent at the knee and I spread them wider to allow myself more room to move. I was practically humping the air and I could feel my chest rising and falling as I huffed out my breaths.

Screw trying to be quiet, I just needed to find my release.

I didn’t care who knew it, in that moment, I didn’t care about anything.

I let out a small mewl of frustration as I could feel my climax _right there_ , like it was on the verge of collapse but wouldn’t arrive.

Biting my lips between my teeth, I pinched harder at my clit, trying to force it. It still didn’t work.

I whimpered lowly into the air as I squeezed my eyes shut more, seeing stars but not feeling the amazing feeling that usually went with it.

Instead, my vision went elsewhere. I could see his naked chest, glistening and crunching as he moved. His muscles hot and tight and delectable.

I imagined how it would look to have him held tight above me, suspending his weight just enough not to crush me completely. I imagined how I might feel to have him thrust fully inside me and have him fill me up completely.

“ _Please_ …,” I moaned at the thought of him spilling out of me in the heat of the moment as he succumbed to his orgasm.

That did it.

I moaned out as my fingers found a surge of energy and pushed me just right to that place inside me.

“Fuck, _Flynn_ …” I moaned as I let myself crash through the gates of heaven and I felt my body go numb. I was rocked with the aftershocks of my orgasm as my body convulsed into my sheets and I got myself off with a soft cry.

I let out a gasp as it rolled into a second smaller one. _A two-fer_. I hadn’t felt that in a few years.

I could feel my cheeks were hot and red at what I’d just done. Despite the fact that I’d been alone in that moment, I was embarrassed. I’d just used my best friend’s dad as my inspiration to cum.

It felt naughty… _forbidden…_ I knew it was wrong, which was why even though my kitty clenched at the thought of him, my lips were turned down into a frown.

My fingers retreated from my core and I lay on my back, relaxing into the sheets in silence. It didn’t feel like we were even, despite in our lifetimes, we’d both used each other as the object of our masturbation.

But it didn’t feel like that to me. If it had, he’d be out of my system.

But…, I didn’t know if I would ever really get Flynn Forbes out of my system. Not when I already had so many unanswered questions…

.

The sun felt heavenly against the skin of my back. I could feel it seeping into my bones. There was nothing like the Californian sun. The pods in my ears had been silent for a while, having finished my “Summer Bangers ’09” playlist from years ago and so sat lifelessly in my ears. If they hadn’t, I wouldn’t have heard something rustling behind me.

I rolled over and sat up quickly, trying to find the source of the noise. I didn’t want to be the snack of some curious wandering animal or something. My eyes widened when they landed on something much worse, and my arms raised to cover my naked chest.

Flynn stared back at me, his eyes light with amusement. I couldn’t help the way my pussy clenched at the sight of him, especially after everything that I’d experienced since I saw him last night.

I could feel my cheeks flaming up. He couldn’t have known what I’d done, but that didn’t stop me from feeling self-conscious.

“Sorry, I was uhhh… I was just sunbathing,” I managed to get out. I couldn’t have sounded more pathetic if I’d tried. His eyes seemed to zero in on my breasts as I spoke. I felt like I wasn’t fully covered, but I couldn’t help the way that my skin heated more underneath his careful gaze.

I reached beside me for my towel, covering myself up and averting my eyes. I didn’t really know how to react having just flashed my breasts to my best friend’s dad – her _very_ hot, young dad…

I opted for awkward silence.

Flynn was silent for a moment, his hands in his pockets as he watched me. He shrugged after a while.

“No, it’s my fault for startling you,” he said. “Though, maybe it’s fair considering the number of time you’ve caught me without my own shirt…”

My eyes widened as they flipped back up to meet his. I didn’t really know how to take that statement. I stared at him blatantly, and in a surprising move, he chuckled lowly.

“ _Joking_ ,” he said, watching me carefully.

I couldn’t help but bite my lip, nodding once. I moved to reach for my suit top, trying awkwardly and unsuccessfully to tie the thing to myself underneath the security of the towel.

Flynn stood in amused silence as he watched me struggle.

My cheeks were fully red by the time I managed to get everything in place and I dropped my towel. I watched Flynn’s eyes follow the movement of the fabric before drifting quickly back up to mine, as if he meant to hide the movement.

I felt hot under his gaze. It felt like he was studying me, and while I couldn’t say I didn’t like it, it was definitely making me question his motives.

I looked away from his eyes and trailed down his attire. My eyebrows rose when I realized he was wearing board shorts.

“Were you looking to go for a swim?” I asked. “Because, I can get out of your hair…”

Flynn stood for a moment, just watching me again. I didn’t know if I should be unnerved by his stare, but for some reason I liked it. I liked having his eyes on me. While our silences were awkward, they were also something else that I couldn’t put my finger on.

Any attention was better than no attention.

His eyes darted to the crisp blue pool beside me, before flicking back up to meet mine. He shrugged.

“I was… but it doesn’t mean you have to go anywhere,” he admitted. My lips parted slightly. He wasn’t blatantly telling me to go away, nor was he telling me he didn’t want me here. In fact, if I wasn’t mistaken, he was telling me the opposite, like he was leaving the choice up to me.

I didn’t really know what to make of that.

I didn’t know if he was just tolerating me because I was his daughter’s best friend, his new version of a boarder in his house, or if maybe… he actually liked my company?

Last night in his studio might not have been much to go on, but he’d never said he hadn’t liked having me around. That might have been me projecting.

Was it weird that I wanted to be around him? Even if it was just some weird friendship from two people from different generations and different walks of life.

I couldn’t help it… I blushed at his words, no matter how much I tried to stay away, he was magnetic. I didn’t want to stay away. Actually…, a part of me wanted to know what it would be like to be friendly with him.

Plus, I couldn’t deny how hot he made me feel down below. That was really the only thing making me question whether this was okay, whether this was right.

If I stayed away, I eliminated all chances of me betraying the trust of my best friend, or making anything weird in my living situation.

“Okay,” I said.

Flynn nodded once and then walked closer. I didn’t dare move from my spot on the lounger. I watched in silence as He pulled his shirt from his body, allowing me to see the rugged sunkissed chest that he _definitely_ kept well maintained. And _God_ , did I want that all to myself…

He tossed it to the side of the pool before walking slowly down the steps and into the cool blue water.

He waded out until he was up to his neck. The rest of his body was distorted beneath the cool blue water, but it didn’t matter. I knew what his chiseled chest looked like, and having it be on display for the third time since I’d been back in the city, my imagination was running wild with it.

I bit my lip and decided to bite the bullet.

I pulled my towel off and got out of my seat. Flynn’s eyes followed me as I chose to take a seat on the edge of the pool, dipping my feet in.

He moved and leant back against the opposite side, watching me carefully. There was something playing about his lips that I could quite discern.

It made me blush though, as I looked down, twirling my feet in the water and laughing softly.

I didn’t know why we were both so awkward, but on my end at least, the tension between the two of us was palpable.

My hands rested on the ground beside me as I leant back slightly, my eyes on his, putting forth a slight challenge.

I had never been good at any of this, so I was leaning into my instincts a little bit.

“Are we friends, Flynn?” I asked, my voice light and my eyes curious. I watched him consider my question before he chuckled once.

He shrugged. “I don’t know why we couldn’t be,” he said. “I mean, we may as well be if we have to live together. Makes it easier doesn’t it?”

I grinned. I liked his answer. I nodded once with a smile.

The silence that fell over us was comfortable this time, like I didn’t have anything to be insecure about now.

Feeling a little brazen, I pushed my chest out ever so slightly as I leant back. I knew I was being a tease, but I just couldn’t help it.

I wanted to know what his reaction might be. Would he think I was coming on to him, or just making myself comfortable.

Sneaking a glance at him, I noticed that the base of his throat was slightly pink and then my eyes sparked as I watched his adam’s apple bob as he swallowed thickly.

When I looked up at him, Flynn rose an eyebrow at me, challenging me. I could have sworn I saw his pupils dilate, though it was hard to tell in the shade.

I couldn’t help the small shiver that raced down my spine at our small exchange.

Friends or not friends, that small act was brave for me.

I wasn’t used to this kind of sexual chemistry, but it felt to me like Flynn and I had a lot of it. Paired with the fact that he wasn’t outright saying no to anything I was putting down.

My heart pounded in my ears. The memory of him calling out my name mid-orgasm raced through my mind, followed by my own actions this morning.

A part of me wanted to confront him about it, but it would ruin everything that had naturally transpired between us. It was comfortable now, but why did such a big part of me – even though I knew it was completely taboo – want to make him interested in me.

I wanted to know what it would feel like to have him be attracted to me and then actually act on those feelings of attraction. I wanted him to make a move, but I knew he never would.

I wanted to give him a reason to want me.

Without my realizing it, my thoughts of my morning self-pleasure had made my nipples hard.

I knew that he’d be able to see them poking through the thin material of my swimsuit and I found myself blushing. I was looking anywhere but at him. Maybe I could blame it on the breeze or something?

When I snuck a glance at him, he was avoiding looking at me too, but there was the hint of a grin tugging at his lips so I knew he’d noticed my predicament.

I rolled my eyes to myself, shaking my head. I wanted to die of embarrassment. Now he knew I thought he was hot…maybe?

Actually, I didn’t know what he thought, I only knew he knew something had aroused me. Either way, that damage was done. I mentally slapped myself before I looked at the water. Knowing it would give me a moment of reprieve, I pushed myself in, letting it envelop me.

Escaping the situation seemed like my best option, so I reveled in the feeling of the cool water around my head, making my hair swirl and my grin lift delicately.

When I came back up, Flynn was chuckling softly under his breath. I narrowed my eyes at him with a grin as I slicked my hair behind my ears.

“What are you laughing at?” I giggled. “Some things you just can’t help, asshole.”

Flynn looked me in the eye, his gaze full of cheeky mischief as he shrugged, grinning. I rolled my eyes as his shoulders shook with silent laughter.

Then, with a sly grin, I splashed him with water, making him groan before letting out a short laugh.

He seemed more like a schoolboy in that moment – lifting his hands to cover his face as he grinned knowing full well what my splashing him was for – more than he did someone’s father.

“Alright, sorry, I concede,” he laughed, holding his hands up in surrender. I couldn’t help the giggles that overcame me. I didn’t know what had gotten through to us, laughing over pert nipples like a couple of virgins.

Immature, and yet, endearing.

I rolled my eyes and drifted towards the side of the pool.

“Alright,” I grinned. “I’m out of here.” I began moving out of the water, not paying any mind to the fact that now my ass was in his line of vision as I bent over my patio lounger to grab a chair.

When I stood up and turned around, I watched his eyes flick up to mine and my lips parted slightly, realizing just what he’d been staring at.

I rolled my eyes. This change in attitude was jarring, but not unwelcome. After all, I didn’t mind him looking at the goodies, I just wished he’d do something about it.

There was a pink tinge to the apples of his cheeks as he met my eyes.

“I’ll join you for dinner later,” he said. I nodded silently, wrapping myself up in my towel and walking inside.

I was trying to make sense of that whole exchange. His personality was like a yoyo in the terms of how quickly he had changed.

It wasn’t an unwelcome change, just strange is all compared to the distance he usually put between himself and everyone else. I had never seen this part of him before.

And an invite to dinner? That was a whole other level of new.

I didn’t know what had gotten into him, but I wasn’t about to say no.

.

Dinner had been awkward. That had been my fault, though. And now I was sitting in my room kicking myself for screwing it up.

I don’t know what it could have been like, I just knew that I was an idiot. We had barely spoken two words to each other as we’d eaten our meals in the dining room.

I had normally taken to either eating in front of the television or in my room but I don’t know, I’d for some reason felt the need to have us sit at the dining table.

I don’t know if it was because he was still the figure in charge, and maybe I’d had it in my mind that I needed to impress him with my maturity, but the whole setting just put physical space between us again and made it weird.

I don’t know. Maybe he hadn’t felt any of that distance but I had. And now I was pissed with myself.

Whatever playfulness we had stumbled across that afternoon in the pool was long gone and replaced by what we had before. Long silences and not much else.

That tension was back, and not necessarily in a good way.

I rubbed a hand through my hair as I sighed, throwing myself back onto the bed. I had screwed everything up royally. At least that’s what I had thought, which was why I’d been so shocked when I heard a soft knock on the door.

Surprised, I got to my feet and went to open it.

I’d forgotten I wasn’t wearing anything except a large t-shirt – like literally, _nothing_ else. It covered everything it needed to, but it wasn’t appropriate for entertaining company, which was why I blushed when I opened the door to meet my eyes with Flynn’s.

I watched him swallow thickly when his eyes roved over me and then tore themselves away. I suddenly was very aware of everything about me.

“Hi,” I managed to say, my voice breathless. His eyes flicked back up to mine, boring into them.

“Hi,” he said, his voice gruff and deep. He frowned a little. I watched that little crease appear between his eyebrows and something inside me wanted to press my finger there to make it go away.

I didn’t want him to get worry lines.

_What the hell is that about, Kingsley? Snap out of it!_

“Uhh… can I come in?” he asked. My eyes widened and I quickly stepped back.

“Of course, sorry. I’m a dumbass,” I worried, speeding through my words as I moved away from the door. I went and sat down on my bed, crossing my legs to make sure everything was covered.

When I looked up, Flynn had shut the door was leaning his back against it.

“I… uhmmm…” he started, frowning. “I wanted to apologize for tonight.”

My eyes widened in surprise.

“ _You_ wanted to apologize?”

Flynn gave me a look like he was questioning whether I understood English.

“Yeah,” he said. “I didn’t mean for things to be so quiet. If I’m honest, that wasn’t what I was looking for…”

“It wasn’t?” I echoed, my voice quiet. I couldn’t ignore the way he was looking at me. He shook his head. His eyes were hard and strong. This was a man that knew what he wanted, and right now, he was looking right at _me_.

“No.”

I bit my lip, pausing a moment. He seemed like he was getting his thoughts in order but I couldn’t wait.

“So… what _were_ you looking for then?”

He let out a huff of breath through his nose, looking concerned. He still wore his frown, that crease between his eyes becoming more prominent. After a moment, he sighed, shaking his head.

The air was frozen between us. I was afraid to breathe. The tension was thick.

He gave me a slightly pained look.

“I shouldn’t want you here,” he finally said, shaking his head. My jaw dropped.

I opened my mouth to give him some kind of apology, some kind of way to say that I didn’t mean to take up his space but something in his gaze made me swallow my words, no matter how offended and hurt I was by his admission.

He didn’t want me around? Well, fair enough, but all he had to do was turn me away when I’d first arrived here. Why go through the last week of living together, and then flirt with me in the pool? _What was the point?_

“Fuck, that didn’t come out right,” he cursed. “I mean– It’s just– You’re Hannah’s _friend_ ,” he said, like that was supposed to clue me into his thoughts. “You know?”

My mouth felt completely dry.

“And?” I asked. I couldn’t help the hurt in my tone. He just saw me as a kid. _What else should I have expected?_

He sighed, running a hand through his hair and scratching at the back of his neck.

“That’s not what I mean,” he said, his voice soft. He moved from his place at the door and I was frozen as he took two steps and stood in front of me. I had to crane my neck to look up at him.

He knew that he’d offended me, and he was trying to fix it. His eyes were locked on mine, pleading. He reached out and I couldn’t help but lean into his hand as he ran a thumb over my bottom lip.

“I just mean that I shouldn’t feel the way that I do about you,” he said. “I shouldn’t want you like I do because you’re my daughter’s best friend. It makes me the creep of the century…”

My eyes widened and I bit my lip as it finally sunk in what he was saying. I dropped my gaze with a blush, looking at my hands in my lap.

“Oh,” I said, my voice low. His words were like honey in my ears and I couldn’t help the small shiver of anticipation that rushed down my spine. I could feel my blood rushing as I held my breath. Why did that thought make my kitty flood with arousal?

Was I really hearing what I thought I’d just heard?

“Kingsley,” he said. I looked up and he was still giving me that pained look from the door. He worried his lip between his teeth before his finger and thumb moved to pinch my chin. Gently, he guided me until I was standing.

I wasn’t anywhere near tall enough to be at his eye level, and his broad frame felt giant around me, but I was captivated by his gaze.

My heart pounded in my ears. It was the first time he’d admitted any of this to me out loud. What had spurred it on? A feeling of dread sunk my stomach as I thought, _Oh God, does he know what I did this morning?_ Did he hear me moaning his name as I came all over my hand?

“Kingsley, I don’t want to push this on you,” he said, his voice somehow soft and hard at the same time. “But, I can’t keep it from you anymore. So, if you want me, I want you, too.”

My jaw dropped as he looked right into my eyes. It felt like he was looking into the depths of my soul. His hazel eyes seemed all consuming.

I didn’t answer him with words, and before I could take it back, I felt a smirk forming on my lips, tugging at the corners of my mouth. My eyes darted down to watch him lick his own.

Surprised by my own brazenness, my hands fell to the hem of my shirt. Then, feeling more confident than ever, I drew it slowly over my head. I looked up at him shyly as I bared my body to him.

I watched his eyes darken as they drank in my naked form. My dusky nipples were hard and my breasts felt pert and heavy. I watched as his eyes roved down to my shaved pussy, and I felt my kitty clench as he swallowed.

“What’s in it for me, though?” I whispered, grinning slyly. Flynn’s eyes darted back up to meet mine and his eyebrows creased. Then he rolled his eyes with a grin as his hand travelled behind my head and pulled me close to him.

My eyelids fluttered shut as I gasped in anticipation of what his lips would taste like.

It wasn’t like I’d waited seven years just to find out…

.

**And now you’ll all have to wait, too… >:D**


	5. Four: In Which She Is Taken

**FOUR: In Which She Is Taken**

**Kingsley**

My eyes fluttered closed as his lips descended on mine. I gave out a soft gasp when they finally pressed together and a bloom of excitement filled me up.

He was soft at first, as if waiting for me to make the first move. His mouth was a confident pressure against my own, and I felt his fingers curl into the hair at the nape of my neck as he held me close to him.

I practically melted into his embrace, and as I did, our lips pried open and I felt his tongue slide into my mouth with delectable precision.

He tasted like apples. The keen, almost sour taste of a perfectly ripe Granny Smith. I moaned softly into our kiss as he devoured me.

He wasn’t too harsh or too pushy, but he definitely knew what he was doing. He was confident and strong like this was what he was born to do. He was in complete control, but somehow made me feel like I had a say in this too.

My hands glided up his arms and to around his neck, holding him close.

Our lips separated for a moment but only to take a small breath before we were locked back together. He had a bruising kind of force, the kind that made me think that maybe I might be ruined for other men altogether.

In that moment I didn’t care, though.

Then, I felt his hand ghost down to my leg, encouraging me to wrap it around him as he hoisted me up. Then he took a step and I was suddenly lying on my back.

I stared up at Flynn who was carrying a startling intensity in his eyes. I smiled softly, pressing a finger to his bottom lip, tracing it, as I felt something _else_ pressing into my hip.

My mouth watered in anticipation and Flynn took the opportunity to kiss me again. My nipples were straining against his shirt, getting hard at the rubbing against the material.

And my core was aching.

I started to work his pants down using just my feet, letting him know what I wanted. He grunted above me.

“Back pocket,” he managed to mumble before his lips were stained back on mine. Distracted and in between fumbles, I finally understood what he meant and I managed to get into the back pocket of his pants and pull out a rubber.

I smirked to myself. As I pulled it up between us, Flynn lifted off me and tore his shirt off. His pants were quick to follow and I was suddenly left with an eyeful of Flynn Forbes.

I couldn’t say I was disappointed.

If anything, my imagination had not done him justice.

I looked back up, catching his eye with a grin.

“You’re sure?” he asked again, his voice breathless. I could see why; his cock was practically stiff straight in the air and I wanted nothing more than to wrap my lips around him.

My kitty clenched in anticipation and I knew that it would have to wait for a different time.

With a smirk, I lifted the condom to my lips and tore it open, not taking my eyes off Flynn’s. His eyes darkened as he watched me. Then I delicately slid it over his member, feeling the hardness of his cock in my hand as I went. He let out another slow grunt, before it seemed like something in him snapped.

He lunged forward, his lips capturing mine again. We engaged in a long kiss and I felt him nudge at my sensitive folds, making me whimper into his throat. He was _so_ close that I didn’t feel like I could wait any longer.

I grabbed him with my hand and guided him towards me. My back arched when I felt him slip through my sensitive folds and push against my core. I listened to his breathing become deeper as he slowly thrust into me, making my toes curl.

I let out a string of breathy curses as he slid home. I didn’t have much experience in the bedroom, but he was definitely bigger than anyone I’d had before. I moaned when he ground against me, then his lips were back on mine.

He took it slow, letting my body get used to the feel of him. The man was strong, that much was evident.

The amount of restraint and control that it took to go so toe-curling slowly, but with the precision to hit every nerve inside me, was something that I’d never experienced. He was a beast. And he knew it.

I moaned out when his deft fingers found my nipples and began pinching. He was skilled in the art of making me fucking insane, that was for sure. He brought me to the very edge of my release three times and had me practically begging for it.

Edging. That’s what Hannah had told me this technique was. Then she’d gone into way too much detail about how much Noah liked to try it out on her with her vibrator.

All I knew was that it was pure torture. My skin felt like it was on fire and like I’d combust with the next minute amount of pressure placed against me. Taking control, I rolled us over until I was lying on top of Flynn.

He groaned as I slipped far down his shaft, seated pretty on him. He gave me a dark look and I licked my lips through my hooded gaze.

I sat up, my hands pressed against his chest as I could finally take matters into my own hands. I slid up and down his length slowly and surely before I finally started building up speed.

His fingers were on my nipples again, pinching and squeezing and making my eyes fall shut with pleasure.

My back arched delectably as I began using him as my own personal springboard. Our thrusts became sloppy and I think he could tell that it was time. It was what we both needed.

I let out a moan as I ground my kitty into his erection.

“ _Fuck… Flynn!”_ I gasped as I felt him hit bottom inside me, over and over and over.

He flipped us over, my head just narrowly missing the headboard, and then suddenly his lips were on mine hand he was driving into me faster than I could even comprehend.

I was dazed, seeing stars even. My head was spinning and I cried out as I finally found my climax, and Flynn finally found my clit. He pushed against it, making me keen into him as my hips undulated in time with my orgasm.

He grunted and I felt him release inside me. His lips were hard against mine, his tongue darting out to battle with my own and taste every inch of me. I was practically panting by the time I finished riding my high.

My body was so relieved and so exhausted that I didn’t remember anything else.

.

Hours later, it was pitch black still. Flynn had pulled me into him and he’d fallen asleep, too. His chest was hard but actually kind of comfortable. Plus, my legs were wrapped around him and my arm was slung across his waist.

We were definitely comfortable, surprisingly enough.

And my mind was racing.

I couldn’t believe what the fuck had happened. I couldn’t believe that this time yesterday, I’d still been doing nothing but trying to ignore my attraction towards my best friend’s dad. This shit was insane.

I didn’t even really know how it had happened.

And then, before I could think about it too much more, Flynn had woken up in the middle of my spiral and he had sucked my clit to distract me. He’d done a damn good job of it too because I came all over his face in a mere matter of seconds.

I guess I had still been a little tightly wound from the edging earlier. It was the first time that I’d had that done to me, so I guess my body didn’t really know _how_ to react. It was crazy.

Flynn had chuckled to himself and licked his lips before pulling himself back up to my level.

Then he’d led me into a deep kiss, allowing me to taste myself. Surprisingly, I found that I was quite sweet with a little bit of a tangy aftertaste, but overall, not bad. I could have expected much worse.

Then we fell back to sleep again. My sleep was more broken, as my body kept waking me up to make sure that this was all real. I gave up after a while and just watched him sleep.

When dawn came, I watched the sunlight dance over his naked form. He was truly beautiful. As beautiful as the statue of David that he’d constructed all those years ago – though, his cock was so much bigger.

Honestly, it was intimidating how good looking he was. Especially for a former chubby girl with the self-esteem of a carrot. I would always have voices in my head that told me I wasn’t good enough.

Sure, I hadn’t heard any complaints from Flynn, but it wouldn’t stop me from obsessing over it.

I watched the straight edge of his nose and the rise and fall of his flat chest. I watched his pecs constrict and relax with every breath, and the clench of his chiseled abdomen every time he moved even slightly.

Then, I watched with interest at the intervals for which his cock chose to become hard and soft. It was interesting. It was like his member was on a constant cycle every twenty or so minutes.

To watch him grow semi hard before my eyes only made me want to grip him and watch him grow with arousal. I wanted to watch as my fingers brought his erection to its fullest. I wanted to feel that steel beneath my fingertips.

I wanted to rub my thumb over his sensitive slit and I wanted to press my finger at his taint. I wanted to fondle his balls in my hands, rolling over my palm, and I wanted to squeeze his ass in my hands.

I wanted to feel every aspect of him, and I wanted to know exactly what his erection would make me feel, knowing that I had caused all of his arousal.

I took in a deep breath as I could feel my toes curl slightly at the thought and my clit cry out for attention. I was practically clenching my core in an effort to stop the flow of arousal that I knew would flood my soft lips if I were to keep thinking about it.

The man was too hot for his own good.

My nipples were straight and hard with all my thoughts. I could’ve cut glass if I’d tried.

My eyes widened when I watched Flynn’s cock flex high into the air, becoming harder than it had all night – or all early morning. I heard a small grunt from above me and looked up in surprise to see him grinning down at me.

“Good morning,” he said, his voice husky and sexy. My lips parted and I could feel the way I was panting.

“Morning,” I managed to whisper. Flynn rolled slightly, and his cock fell into my waiting hand. He gave me a look and I suddenly just knew what he wanted – what he needed.

Languidly, I began to stroke his length in my hand. I bit my lip, looking up into his eyes as I did. We didn’t break eye contact as I glided my hand up and down his length.

I went as slow as he tortured me with last night and I could see his resolve breaking down. My finger slid over his slit just as I had imagined and I pressed my ginger there.

He grunted and his hips flexed upwards, making my hand slip back down his length. He gave a small chuckle, eyeing me.

“Sly little minx,” he accused me. I gave him a shy smile, blushing as I continued to work him over.

I still couldn’t believe this was even happening. Last night had been amazing. I wasn’t totally convinced I wasn’t dreaming.

I gave a small frown as I continued moving my hand. Flynn caught it and caught my chin between his thumb and forefinger, forcing me to look up at him. My lips parted in the process.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, concerned. I bit my lip.

“Nothing, I just… I had a thought.”

Flynn frowned. “Tell me,” he encouraged. I sighed, stroking him again and he unwittingly flexed in my hand.

I bit my lip for a moment, wondering how I could properly phrase this.

“I’m just a little confused,” I admitted.

Flynn didn’t say anything so I sighed and looked down at his cock, concentrating on the job at hand – literally.

“Why me?” I asked. “I mean, like why did you choose me? What made you want to get into bed with me?”

I looked up at him again. His eyes were burning into mine.

“What pushed you over the edge?” I asked, my voice quiet and timid, as if I were afraid of his answer. I’d honestly be surprised if he’d even be able to answer me. His dick was in the process of being caressed by my hand. I knew that if it were him asking me questions while his fingers were all up in my till, I wouldn’t be able to utter a coherent word let alone a sentence.

Flynn gave a small chuckle and his hand found my hair, stroking it as slowly as I worked his cock.

I squeezed him slightly at his base as he put an arm behind his head. I looked up at him through my lashes, waiting for his answer.

He swallowed thickly as he watched me.

“I’ve always found you attractive,” he admitted. “The quiet girls always are…”

I couldn’t help the blush that called to my cheeks. It felt nice to hear.

I watched as he bit his lip slightly.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought about you over the last few years,” he said. This time he wasn’t looking at me. The grown man had the audacity to blush at his words, despite the fact I’d had his cock in my hand for five minutes.

“Really?” I asked, my voice sounding breathless and needy to my own ears.

The tips of his ears were tinged pink in the cutest way. His cock was firm between my fingers and I took the chance to squeeze his mushroom head. He grunted and his cock keened towards me.

His chest rose and fell a few times as he tried to get his control back. It was fascinating to watch him tease himself like this – holding off until just the right moment.

I wondered if that was how he ever got himself off.

“Yeah,” he managed to moan out. His voice was tight and thick. His hips were starting to thrust towards me. They were small thrusts, as if he were trying to keep himself under control still, but his body was defying him.

I loved to see it.

“And then yesterday, I was heading down to my studio when I heard something…”

I frowned.

 _He couldn’t have… could he?_ I wondered, mortified.

He sent me a look, a smirk, but it was tight as he tried to hold himself together.

I decided to torture him a little more. I did a few short thrusts with my hand, followed by a squeeze at his base, before four or so slow long strokes. It was enough to keep him panting and on edge.

“You’re tormenting me,” he moaned out, long and hard as his hip thrusts got a little bigger. He sounded almost pained, but there was a hint of a grin on his lips. Every time I squeezed his base, he ground himself into my hand. My nipples were so hard with my arousal that it was almost painful and I could feel my kitty clenching with a ghost cock inside. I wanted to sink down on him so badly.

“What did you hear?” I asked, my voice breathy. I already knew the answer, I just wanted to hear it come from his lips.

He smirked in my direction. “My name,” he grinned. “Screaming from your lips as you came. You’re not exactly subtle, kitten.”

My cheeks flamed at his words, and at the nickname. I wanted to throw it back in his face and tell him that I’d heard him do the exact same thing with my name only a few years ago, but I didn’t.

Instead, I squeezed him tight in my hand and began thrusting so fast that he grunted. In three seconds, he was calling out as a stream of white ropey cum was spurting from his tip. My mouth watered but I didn’t stop. A string of curses slipped through his lips and his eyes were shut tight. His head was thrown back and it was his turn for his back to arch.

His hips thrust towards my hand as I kept him going, long and hard thrusts, pulling every bit of his orgasm from him. He grunted with the effort as I figuratively brought him to his knees.

I slowly brought him back down, continuing my slow thrusts with my hand. When the last of his cum came through his tip, I smirked to myself and swiped my finger across his mushroom head. The thing was bright red and practically pulsating.

I wanted to wrap my lips around him, but it would have to wait for another day.

Instead, I gathered the cum on my finger and pressed it to my tongue, tasting his sour flavor. He was as tangy as the apples I’d tasted on his lips just last night.

The rest of his release was dripping slowly down his shaft and down his balls. His chest was rising and falling quickly as he tried to come down. With a grin and a lick of my lips, I leant over him and pressed my mouth to his.

I wanted him to taste himself. I wanted him to taste me on his tongue. I wanted him to understand.

I wanted him to want me in the undeniable way that I wanted him.

When we pulled away, he looked dazed. When he came back to me, he rose an eyebrow with a smirk.

“And from there I knew I had to have you,” he said, his voice low. I frowned, confused.

“From where?”

He chuckled, kissing me again. “From the moment you screamed my name as you came. Something snapped inside me and I knew I had to have you in my bed or I’d die.”

My lips parted as I watched him. He grinned, using two fingers to push my hair out of my face. Then…

“Your turn,” he grinned.

I barely heard him. I was still in shock. That was, until his fingers found my kitty and suddenly, I was screaming his name once more.

.

**Fuck I’m horny now -_-**


	6. Five: IN Which She Gets A Mouthful

**FIVE: In Which She Gets A Mouthful**

**Kingsley**

I was making a French toast BLT sandwich in the kitchen when a text chimed through on my phone. I was trying to load up on food so that I wouldn’t get hungry during my next job interview today. It was some organic hippie vegan gluten free grocery store that I’d seen an ad for online.

Though I wasn’t a vegan or restricted on gluten or any other dietary needs, it wasn’t like I had anything against anyone who was, so I’d applied. The manager had called me this morning around nine, excited about my experience and my application so they’d called me in for the interview at lunch.

To say I was nervous was an understatement. I needed this job. I needed an income. I couldn’t rely on Hannah or her father – especially now that I had slept with the man.

It had already felt like charity, and now I didn’t need him thinking that I was trading sexual favors just for a place to sleep. That would make me the cheapest person in history.

I felt like that girl in _Pretty Woman_ – even though I had never seen it, I knew that the gist was that she slept with him and he gave her refuge for a while so she didn’t have to prostitute herself. Well… she still kind of had to, so it was a little hypocritical.

Either way, I needed to not live in this house. I didn’t even know if it was healthy for me to keep sleeping with Flynn. Don’t get me wrong, he was great in the sack but that was exactly my problem.

I shouldn’t have wanted him. He was the forbidden fruit. He was Hannah’s _dad_.

Off limits, Kingsley, I tried to tell myself.

Of course, that thought left my head the moment I felt him pad up behind me and look over my shoulder at my meal.

I turned my head slightly, pressing pause on the True Crime podcast playing in my ears and taking out my headphones.

He smelled great. His hair was all wet and hanging over his eyes so I knew he’d just gotten out of the shower.

“Smells good,” he grinned. I smiled at him and nodded my head towards a plate on the island where I’d made him a sandwich too.

“Oh, thanks, you didn’t have to do that,” he smiled, pressing a light kiss to my temple and making my eyes widen out of surprise. I definitely hadn’t been expecting that. I watched in shocked silence as he cut himself a piece of his sandwich – red flag, I know, I mean who _cuts_ a sandwich? – before he turned to me with a grin.

“So, who was on the phone?” he asked, before putting his food in his mouth. My eyebrows shot up.

“Oh, I uh… I actually didn’t check,” I said, snapping back to life. I pulled my phone up in front of me, opening the messenger app. I bit my lip when I saw the message.

**Brunch? –H**

I didn’t know if I should have coffee with Hannah. After everything that had gone down with Flynn in the last few days, I wasn’t sure that I could keep a lid on it.

Plus, I had no idea how long this interview was going to go for. I didn’t want to set a time with her and then have to cancel it because I was in the middle of getting a job.

“It’s from Hannah,” I said carefully, giving him a wary eye. He didn’t say anything. “She wants to meet up for coffee,” I continued.

Flynn was silent for a moment, chewing his food before he finally nodded once.

“You should go,” he said, noticing my apprehension. I bit my lip, leaning against my hip on the island. My own breakfast was abandoned beside me.

“You don’t think that’s a bad idea?” I asked. “Y’know… after everything that happened last night…?”

Flynn watched me for a moment. Then he shook his head.

“No, I think it’ll be good for you to see her.”

I frowned. “But what if I let something slip?”

Flynn sighed. “Do you want her to know?” he asked, his eyebrow raised. I bit my lip.

“Is it bad if I say ‘no’?” I asked. Flynn gave a small chuckle, shrugging. How was I supposed to know if I wanted to tell my best friend when I wasn’t even sure what this was between us?

I didn’t know if I wanted it to go on, but I couldn’t just exactly say ‘Hey, Hannah, I fucked your dad last night but I think we’re just gonna be friends.’

That’s the quickest way to lose a lifetime long friendship. She’d never forgive me. She and Flynn weren’t exactly super close, but I knew her well enough to know that she was still protective over him. And she’d get jealous.

That sounds weird to say, but she’d be jealous that he would willingly spend time with me instead of his own daughter.

I was getting ahead of myself…

“No, that’s not a bad thing,” Flynn answered. “I was planning on keeping this… whatever it is… between us for a little bit. But if that’s not what you want then you can tell her…”

“Really?’ I frowned. Flynn gave a small smile, nodding.

“Yeah,” he said. “I mean… I came on to you, so I guess it’s only fair that the ball is in your court for this.”

I was speechless. My mouth was bobbing open and closed like a fish.

“Well… what is _this_ between us?” I asked carefully, motioning a finger between the two of us. Flynn had the nerve to blush and avert his gaze.

He was silent for a moment before he turned and picked up his plate of food. Then he turned back to me and took two steps until he was right in front of me so that our chests were touching.

“I’ll be whatever you want me to be, baby,” he said, his voice lower than usual. Then, to my surprise, he pecked my lips with a soft smile and leaned away. He took his food and walked out the doorway to the kitchen, leaving me flabbergasted.

“Good luck at your interview!” he called, his voice getting further away as he made his way to his studio I assumed. I let out a long breath.

That man was mind boggling. And now I still didn’t really have an answer about any of this.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair as I cast my breakfast another glance. So much for wanting to load up. The meal was now cold and I was too nervous to be hungry.

Wrinkling my nose, I picked up my phone to send Hannah a message.

**Love to :) I’ve got an interview this morning though, so I’ll text you when I’m done –K**

Hannah didn’t take long to reply.

**Awesome, a late lunch then, I love it haha ;P Good luck at the interview though, babe. You’ll KILL it! Need a ride there? –H**

I couldn’t help but smile to myself. She was too generous.

**Nah, I’ve already found a way there. Thanks tho –K**

Then I shut off my phone and raced upstairs to ‘my’ room to find an outfit that was both weather appropriate – because it was fucking hot in LA today – and job interview appropriate.

I figured that this small grocer would be casual, if I was going off the style of their Instagram account – kind of trendy. So, I went with a denim skirt overall and a plain white shirt underneath.

I put my hair up with one of those big claw clips and that was it.

.

Four hours later, I was hired. The manager had loved me, and turns out that I was actually taking on her job as manager. She was leaving to go overseas – how ironic.

But, she loved my work ethic, and loved my Birkenstocks even more, so I was practically hired on the spot.

The rest of the interview, she introduced me to the staff and walked me through my day to day tasks. Turns out that it was half grocer, half café where they sold cute little meals made from all the organic things in the store.

After eating a delicious frittata, I was ready to meet up with Hannah for our late lunch. She ended up pulling up outside the grocer – Aunt B’s Hemporium – in her new Mercedes before we drove to a cutesy little café for lunch in Santa Monica.

By the time we made it through traffic and all the way down there, I was completely starving. We had had good conversations on the drive there, surprisingly it was easy to keep my secret about Flynn from her.

When I’d first gotten into the car, she had squealed and pulled me into a close hug, what with it being the first time she’d been able to see me since I’d gotten back into the country. She’d practically squeezed the life out of me.

Then we’d jammed out to all of our old classics. It felt like I had never even gone away. Hannah had a way of making you feel at home just by being in her presence.

When we finally found a park in Santa Monica, we got out and walked the strip until we found a good café. Lunch came quickly, despite the number of people dining, which I was thankful for.

“So, how are you and Noah?” I asked, chuckling to myself as I took way too big a bite of my panini.

Hannah rolled her eyes at my antics but she smiled. “We’re good. He’s working today and I finally had a day off, that’s why I wanted to come see you.”

“Yeah?” I grinned. “And how’s the wedding planning going?”

Hannah heaved a dramatic sigh.

“Babe, you have no idea. It’s so bloody stressful and of course, Noah is absolutely hopeless when it comes to details. The planner we hired is just as hopeless so I’m honestly glad that you’re now in the country so I can ask last minute questions about napkins or tablecloths or whatever the fuck else and I know you’ll actually know what I’m going on about.”

I laughed out loud.

“He can’t be that bad…” I smirked. All Hannah had to do was send me an exasperated look and I was giggling uncontrollably.

“He asked me what the difference between teal and aqua were the other day,” she rolled her eyes with a smile. “He may as well have asked for the difference between orange and purple, you know?”

I gave her a concerned look. “Why did he need to know about teal, though? Please tell you know not to have that color at your wedding. I mean, how many times did we watch _The Wedding Planner_ together?”

Hannah laughed but gave me a serious look. “I know right! Always listen to J-Lo,” she said. “No, I was telling him to not dare get teal, and when he asked what teal was, I showed him and he said, ‘that’s aqua’. Honestly I was about to choke him out.”

I laughed.

“Other than that, though, he can’t be that bad, right?”

Hannah grinned and shook her head. “Nah, you know I’m dramatic.”

I chuckled.

“No, he’s actually a really good sport when it comes to supporting me on my choices. I’ve just learnt that I can’t rely on his opinion when I ask him what he’d prefer, because a, he takes too long to make up his mind, and then b, he stresses that he’s made the wrong choice and that I’ll hate it.”

I grinned. “So, what _has_ he picked?”

Hannah smiled. “Oh, he’s picked the cake.”

“Yeah? What’re we having?”

Hannah grinned. I could see the fondness in her eyes when we talked about her husband-to-be.

“Funfetti.”

I grinned. “You’re joking?” I chuckled. Hannah grinned, shaking her head.

“Nope. It’s his favorite. Plus, it’s a well liked flavor so no one should have a problem with it. Plus, you know I love a good rainbow.”

I smiled. “Sounds awesome. How many cake tastings did it take to land on that one?” I teased.

“Hardy-Har,” she mocked me, rolling her eyes as I laughed. “None. He knew what he wanted from the start, and because he’s such a good sport about all of my plans, I have no problem giving that to him. Besides, it’s not going to be _just_ funfetti.”

I rose an eyebrow. “Oohh, do tell.”

Hannah grinned. “It’s going to be a beautiful three-tier funfetti with buttercream icing and white chocolate curls and other little decorations.”

“Ahh, so like the fanciest three-year-old birthday cake ever?”

Hannah laughed. “Exactly! I love it, though.”

I smiled. “Oh definitely. It’s very ‘you guys’.”

“I know right.” Hannah grinned. I chuckled, taking another bite of my food.

“Okay, so enough about me,” she smiled. “How are you going living with my dad? He’s not being an asshole, is he?” she worried.

I smiled, trying my hardest not to blush.

“Oh, no, it’s completely fine. We barely even see each other,” I lied. She didn’t need to know that we’d actually seen all parts of each other. “He’s very accommodating, though.”

Hannah bit her lip. “And everything’s okay? I mean it’s not weird or anything? I’m sorry for springing it on you, I just couldn’t let you stay in a dingy motel all this time, or god forbid, let you go back to your parents’ place.”

I nodded.

“No, everything’s fine. I really appreciate what you both have done for me,” I said sincerely. “And I’m not planning on taking up too much of your hospitality either,” I said. “Now that I have this job, I’ll be able to save up a little bit to get my own place.”

Hannah waved her hand. “Oh, babe. Don’t feel like anyone is pushing you out. I want you to stay for as long as you need to. I don’t need you putting a deposit down on a shitty apartment just so that you’re not paying me back. That’s not what friends do.”

I frowned, but nodded. “Okay…”

Hannah nodded. Our conversation moved elsewhere and was only interrupted once when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.

“Who is it?” Hannah asked curiously, trying to look over the table to see my text.

“Oh, just the girl who interviewed me today,” I lied, eyeing the naked chest on my screen. Flynn was not making it easy to keep my trap shut about the two of us.

His skin looked golden and shiny, like he’d just finished working out. I’d never been one for dirty texts, but the photo was just enough to tease me.

It cut off right at the V of his hips but from what I could tell from the photo, he wasn’t wearing any underwear.

My mouth watered.

“Oh, well what does she want? I thought you were already hired?” Hannah mused, snapping me out of the thirst trap that Flynn had invaded my conscience with.

Damn him. He was making it hard to make a decision. My head told me not to go there again, but the clench of my core was telling a different story. I had a feeling last night’s escapade would not be the last.

“Oh, just texting me my new schedule,” I lied, trying to hide the tightness in my voice. Hannah gave me a weird look but shrugged it off.

We talked about other meaningless things for the next hour or so, then strolled down the pier like we used to in highschool, treating ourselves to an ice cream as we walked.

Then she was generous enough to drive me back to Flynn’s house.

As soon as I was sure that she had left, I marched inside and down to his studio. I didn’t even bother knocking, just pushed open the door, ready to give him hell for making me all flustered when he _knew_ I was with Hannah.

Instead, I was completely surprised to see him sitting at an easel in the middle of his studio, his newest sculpture abandoned.

This was weird. Painting was not Flynn’s usual medium for art, so it was throwing me to see him in front of it. He didn’t even look up when I came in.

So, my words died in my throat and I walked slowly up to him, circling around to see just what he was painting. My eyes widened when they fell on the naked form of a woman.

She was curvy and beautiful. You couldn’t see her face, and Flynn was painting her on an angle. He had painted from her neck down to almost mid thigh and I was surprised by the accuracy of his proportions.

From the fullness of her breasts to the dip at her waist that then curved out into wide hips. Her kitty was bare and petite and I could see a hint of her pussy lips peeking out. Her thighs were the right amount of thick. Her stomach wasn’t completely flat, it had that cute little bump below her belly button that was the same as the famous statue of Venus.

This woman was toned, but wasn’t afraid to eat what she wanted.

My eyebrows furrowed when I noticed a small mole that was right on her bikini line. It wasn’t totally unlike the one that was in the same spot on my own body.

Then my eyes widened as the rest of the features became all too familiar to me. I could feel Flynn’s gaze burning into me as it settled over me that he was painting _me_.

I didn’t really know how to react. He was using a medium of art that he didn’t normally practice, and yet his painting was beautiful. The fact that he could paint me perfectly _just from his memory_ was astounding to me.

And very hot.

I felt very hot all over. I didn’t really know what to do with this information. I stiffened when I felt an arm snake around my waist and pull me closer to him.

“Do you like it?” He asked, his voice rough as he looked up at me.

My mouth was still wide open when I finally got the courage to look in his direction. I could see the arousal in his eyes as we stared at each other and my core clenched, making me shiver.

I nodded at him in answer to his question, but I wasn’t even really concentrating anymore. My mouth watered as he gave me _that_ look.

“How was lunch?” he asked in that husky voice. I shook my head, falling to my knees in front of him.

“It was great,” I said, spreading his legs and unzipping his pants. Before he could respond, I pulled his cock from his pants. He was already a little hard – probably from when he was painting – so I wrapped my hand around his base and squeezed.

He let out a grunt, his hand coming over mine in an effort to get me to stop.

“Kingsley–” he started, but I cut him off by devouring his tip in between my soft lips. I sucked hard on his mushroom head, making him groan and his hands come to my head, pushing me down softly.

I didn’t care that this was wrong. After seeing that photo at lunch, I had already been a little turned on, but knowing that he’d spent the better part of today painting me nude from memory – well, that tipped me over the edge.

I moaned into him as I slid slowly down to his base, my throat constricting around him. He groaned lowly and I felt him tighten in my mouth, getting harder as I hollowed out my cheeks.

I let my tongue graze all the way back up his cock as I moved.

His balls were in my hand and I rolled them over my palm, not unlike the way I had this morning. I squeezed them and he keened towards me, his cock bumping my cheeks.

I moved up and sucked on his mushroom head, laving at the slit and wanting to taste those little beads of precum. He smelled masculine, and surprisingly like apples again. He was definitely the forbidden fruit, and I was feasting on him.

“Kingi, baby, please just–”

I cut him off again by squeezing his base in my hand and making him let out a long moan. He started thrusting up into my mouth and I moaned at the sensation of his movements.

Feeling the slide and release of his cock on my tongue was one of the most erotic things I’d ever experienced.

He was like the most grown up lollipop that I’d ever had. and he tasted amazing.

My eyes clenched shut as I squeezed his base and sucked on his mushroom head – hard – at the same time. Flynn grunted above me and his hands pushed my head down further.

His balls were flexed in my other hand, tight as they rolled across my palm. I whimpered into his cock, letting the vibrations travel up his body. He groaned when they did and I watched as his head fell back.

From this angle I could see his jugular vein sticking out. For some reason, that image was the sexiest thing to me. It was the personification of everything manly to me in that moment. Never mind the rock hard rod between my lips.

I sped up and he helped with both his thrusts and the force of his pushing on my head. Normally I would have hated that but there was something about the fact that it was him doing it that made it so much more acceptable to me.

It made him feel strong to me. He was in control, as much as he had been last night.

He was teasing us both with his extra self-control. That was inhumanly sexy.

I moaned again when he sped up even more. I could tell it was coming. He was ramping up to his climax, and when it finally happened, he let out a large grunt.

“Fuck! Kingsley, baby….” He moaned. His thrusts slowed up slightly, but not much. Enough for me to rub my tongue on his underside thoroughly as his warm spurts of cream jetted down my throat.

My eyes rolled into the back of my head at his heady flavor. He was all man.

When we both finally came down from our high, I let him slide slowly from my mouth. There was a string of unswallowed cream that connected my lips to his tip.

I licked my lips, getting rid of the evidence as he looked down at me, the intensity in his eyes burning into my own. I looked at him through hooded eyes, dazed on what I’d just done.

I pulled myself up and straddled his lap, sitting down. I leaned forward, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him fiercely. His tongue was strong in my mouth, but it was obvious that he was taken aback by everything that I’d just done.

When we pulled away, our lips were a hairs breadth apart and we were both breathing hard.

“What was that for?” he said, his voice low and guttural.

I took a moment to myself, tears in my eyes not just from the act of fellatio.

“That painting is beautiful,” I managed to whisper, as if that explained everything. Flynn bit his lip for a moment before replying. He seemed to just know what I was getting at.

“Not as beautiful as its muse…” he said, his voice husky in that way that you could tell all that was on his mind was sex. I didn’t care. I was two seconds away from having him fuck me on his studio floor.

.

**Will someone please fuck _me_ on a studio floor…**


	7. Six: In Which She Is Clean

**SIX: In Which She Is Clean**

**Kingsley**

A week of working at Aunt B’s Hemporium and I was beginning to understand why the last girl had quit the manager position.

On my second day there, one of the workers pushed over a giant ceiling-high urn filled with sand. Don’t ask me why it was filled with sand, all I knew was that it took four people to clean it up.

It didn’t help that it was right in front of the entrance to the store, so it basically stopped customers from coming in for a few hours, and meant that sales were down for that portion of the day.

I had done a terrible job at instructing people to get on it, and I knew that the rest of the workers gossiped about my lack of leadership skills. Overall, while a nice place to work, it was hard to command so much respect from people when they didn’t know me.

They were used to the management style of the girl who came before me, and with my not being someone who was primarily focused on being completely organic and vegan and whatever the fuck else, they all gave me snide sideways glances like I was an ocean and tree-killing monster.

This was one of the reasons I didn’t like this part of LA. Everyone was so health conscious that they were judgmental of everyone else’s choices. I couldn’t care less what people ate or how they lived their lives, but apparently the same courtesy didn’t apply to me.

And so, we lost a day of customers because of how long it took them to clean up the urn sand. I was about ready to collapse by the time I made it back to Flynn’s that day.

The rest of the week hadn’t been much of an improvement, but it at least hadn’t gone as bad as that second day. I managed to make friends with one of the girls who did some of the baking for the café. Lisa. She was like me in that she wasn’t a full vegan, but she did introduce me to some of the ingenious ways that she made vegan food.

Like her nachos. They were amazing. I had no idea how she made the cheese without actual cheese. That shit was like wizardry. I couldn’t figure it out. But we had bonded after she’d found me having a moment to breathe to myself out the back of the building. She’d come back there to smoke a joint and found me breathing heavily in a corner.

I’d appreciated her sitting with me and talking me through the stress of the workplace and ways that she dealt with their judgement. She was really helpful and I was looking forward to keeping Lisa as a close friend at work.

It was going to make work a lot easier if I had someone there who liked my company.

After working there for a week, I was looking forward to my Sunday day off. Saturday was a different story, though. I had four people call in sick without a single day’s notice – suspicious because I knew there was a festival happening in San Francisco that weekend and I assumed that that was where they really were. I couldn’t find anyone to cover their shifts, so the rest of us were slammed for the day.

I found myself having to repot and restock a bunch of the larger plants in the café because they were beginning to look brown at their leaves. I was no green thumb. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but the last manager had told me that it needed to be done every once in a while.

Guess I just drew the short end of the stick that day. By the time I made it home, I was covered head to toe in dirt and I couldn’t think of any better way to finish my day than with a long shower.

I felt grimy.

And the Uber driver who had taken me home physically could not stop his nose from screwing up as I left and he was able to see the mess I’d made in his back seat, purely by accident. I gave him a hefty tip and apologized for it, but I knew he’d probably give me a low rating anyway because now he’d have to get his car cleaned.

I wasn’t exactly proud of it.

Either way, I stumbled up the gaudy front steps of Flynn’s house, letting myself in and scratching Botticelli behind the ears from where he mewled at me in the doorway. Then I dragged my feet out towards the patio. I didn’t have the energy to climb the stairs just yet.

My stomach growled as I passed the kitchen but I ignored it. I was too exhausted to even think about food right now.

I didn’t even wait to take off any layers, I just let myself fall dramatically into the pool, enjoying the way that the cool water soothed my aching muscles.

Thirty seconds under the calm of the water was enough to make my body let go of all the stress and worry of the day. I exhaled, letting all of the bubbles stream around me as I rose to the surface.

My eyes were closed as I pushed my hair out of my face, slicking it behind my ears.

“Long day?” I heard a voice drawl from somewhere near me. My eyes shot open and I looked up to see Flynn grinning at me from the side of the pool.

I let out a sigh that turned into a halfhearted chuckle. “You could say that.”

I let myself float in the water, too exhausted to even lift a finger. My eyes fell closed again and I didn’t really pay Flynn any attention until I felt the ripples in the water. I cracked an eye open to see his shirtless form wading down the steps and towards me.

I leant into him when his hand appeared at my side, guiding me to him. Then he walked me backwards until my back was against the wall of the pool. He had a hand behind my head as he looked down at me, grinning.

I smirked at him, my hands coming to his shoulders. I was still full clothed in the water, feeling the weight of it holding me down.

“Tell me about it,” Flynn said, his voice low and his eyes not breaking from my own. I smiled languidly, my fingers brushing in the curls at the back of his neck. His skin was warm and was heating me up in the sun. I could feel him pressing against me at my stomach but I wasn’t complaining.

His skin felt slick with the water beneath my arms. I wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling him flush against me with the press of my heels and he chuckled.

I leant my head back, resting it on the edge of the pool as I enjoyed the feeling of having him close to me. It wasn’t five seconds before I felt his lips against the exposed skin at my neck. I sighed into him, content as he suckled at my nape.

His lips were as warm as the rest of him.

My breathing was deep as his tongue laved across my skin, relaxed and calm and in complete control. I couldn’t help the way that my hips automatically ground against him slowly.

Like it was the easiest thing in the world.

Like this was our norm.

It was mind blowing, feeling his reaction to me. I could feel him growing but I ignored it. I liked where we were at, relaxed and easy. I started telling him about my day, my voice – albeit breathy – was calm and I sounded almost happy. Maybe even a little drunk.

 _Drunk on him_.

I told him about Lisa and about the flakes who called in sick. Flynn hummed and ahhed where necessary, letting me know he was listening as he put the finishing touches on the lovebite beneath my earlobe.

With my luck – and his expertise – the sheer amount of time he’d spent on it gave me an inkling of just how dark it would be. And while semi-permanent, it would be leaning more towards the ‘permanent’ side for a while longer.

When he was happy with his handiwork, his lips dragged slowly, sensuously, up to my jawline. He traced it with his tongue, sharp and quick. He was deft in his movements as he found his way to my lips. I looked up at him with a lazy smile when he pecked them quickly.

“So, a long day indeed,” he smirked, his voice deep and rugged. I gave a small nod, a mewl resounding in my throat as he stared into my eyes. He gave me a small smile, even giving me a glance of his pearly whites as his eyes flicked between my own and my lips.

I squirmed beneath him, suddenly _very_ aware of the hardness between his legs, and the burning ache between my own.

I was uncomfortably hot and I wanted him to do something about it. Which was why I couldn’t help the whimper of desperation when he leaned forward so that his lips were mere milliseconds away from my own.

“Care to make it longer?” he whispered. My back arched in his fingertips, wanting him closer to me as the burning ache turned into a throbbing one.

His words were like honey to me – so damn addictive.

“If you don’t, I’ll hold it against you forever,” I managed to whisper. I could hear the need my own voice. I was shocked at just how horny I sounded.

Flynn chuckled, letting me feel the vibrations of his chest against my own. Then he leaned forward, connecting our lips. I moaned into him, clinging him closer to me as my hips continued to tease myself against him.

His hand on the back of my head, holding me close, was brewing up a storm inside me. He used it to control our speed, thrusting his tongue between the seam of my lips slowly but strongly. He was in no rush.

Unlike me.

Impatient, my hands glided down his slick chest to the button of his pants. I wanted it undone, and wanted it now.

Flynn just chuckled into my mouth. I mewled indignantly when his hand found mine, stilling it. I groaned, pulling away from his lips to glare at him. He just chuckled, pressing a finger to my lips to shut me up.

“Let’s get you cleaned up first,” he said, his voice low and sexy and filled with promise. I couldn’t argue with that because I felt immediately heavy.

My bones and my clothes and my exhaustion was weighing me down.

At least, that was until I let out a squeal of shock as Flynn dove beneath the water and hoisted me up and over his shoulder. While I had the perfect view of his ass, I can’t say I was expecting him to march me out of the pool like that.

“Oh my god! Flynn!” I squealed, holding on to his back for dear life, terrified that the fact we were dripping wet was going to turn this into a catastrophe. The man just chuckled beneath me, even having the audacity to tap me on the ass.

My jaw dropped in shock. There was a small zing of pleasure that shot from where he’d tapped me, straight to my core. A small part of me wondered if he was into that kind of thing? If maybe I might be into that kind of thing?

With a raise of my eyebrow and the quirk of my lip, I slapped his ass right back. He chuckled beneath me as he climbed the stairs.

“Down, girl,” he laughed. I rolled my eyes, holding on to him tighter, feeling like he might drop me as he ascended the stairs.

I was wrong, we made it to his bedroom without an instance. Then, to my surprise, he kept walking into his bathroom. He set me down and then started undressing me. My brain was stuck in a state of shock and exhaustion, confused as to how this all happened so quickly.

I lifted my arms, allowing him to take off my soaked shirt and bra. My pants were next, then he slowly dragged my thong down my thighs, making me shiver.

And suddenly I was naked and stepping into his shower stall practically in a daze. My skin felt warm all over, like I was burning up, but I still sought the heat of the water as soon as he turned the shower on and stepped in behind me.

Then suddenly I was trapped between a hot man and the shower wall. His lips were on mine, his tongue hard and ruthless and wanting. He had a knee between my legs and I mewled as I ground myself against him. His mouth was hard on mine in just the way I needed it.

The water was hot on my scalp but I didn’t care because his fingers were there, gripping my hair and stroking my head. He was holding me close to him as my tits pressed to his chest.

I whimpered when he bit my bottom lip but neither of us slowed up. He was pressed hard into my hip and his knee was slick from more than just the shower. When his lips retreated from mine, it was only to bite into the skin of my neck, making me moan. His hands ghosted down my back, guiding my legs around his waist again.

Suddenly his cock was pressed against me, not quite inside, but enough for me to gasp and rock against him. I could feel his warm little head, pressed up against right where I wanted it. So fucking close but not close enough.

With a groan, my heels dug into his ass, pushing him forward and moaning when he slid home hard and fast inside me. He hissed out, his hands pressed against the wall on both sides of my head.

The water was running down his chest, making him look so sexy. I moaned when he twitched inside me. I needed him to thrust. I needed to use him for all of the frustration and stress of this week at work.

It had been too many days without him inside me and I hadn’t realized how much I was now craving him.

He must have heard the plethora of screams racing inside my mind because he pulled back, slowly and controlled, before I guided him into me again with my heels.

I liked that I could control the depth of his thrust. I liked that I could control the speed that he pushed into me. I liked that I could control him just this once. It was an interesting change after our last few times.

I usually let him take the lead, but this time he was letting me.

My arms were slung around his shoulders as he held me up. I gripped a handful of his hair, pulling him from my neck and making him look into my eyes.

“Kiss me,” I whispered desperately, my voice dripping with lust. He didn’t waste a second. He tasted like apples, the almost sour taste of the ripest green. I was beginning to get addicted to that taste.

I didn’t know if it was his cologne or his toothpaste or his body wash or whether he just _really_ liked apples. But I didn’t care. I devoured his lips as I dug my heels into him again.

He groaned down my throat, making me moan. When one of his hands retreated to my tit and pinched at my nipple, I bucked against him, surprised at the sharp twinge of pain that filled me up momentarily.

I loved it. I wanted more.

I dug in, urging him to go faster. I wanted it faster.

I wanted him to lose that control and I wanted him to fuck me up against his shower wall like he was some kind of caveman. I wanted him to use me.

I bit down into his bottom lip, making him jolt inside me as he grumbled at the slight pain. I didn’t care. I was willing to do everything to make him lose control.

The tap for the shower was digging into the small of my back but I didn’t care.

I clenched him inside me, making him falter in his pace for just a moment. His tongue was insistent in my mouth and it wasn’t until I sucked hard on it that he finally got the message.

He pulled away from my lips to stare into my eyes, looking for any waver in my judgement.

He wouldn’t find any.

So not a moment later, my kitty was being relentlessly slammed and my head fell backwards as I hollered.

The man let go. He let go of everything holding me back and he fucked me. And I mean he _really_ fucked me. I moaned loudly, not caring if the neighbors two doors down could hear us.

I clenched him again, reveling in the feeling of his cock sliding up against my tight walls. My ass clapped each time he slammed into me but I didn’t give a fuck.

My arms and my legs were two seconds away from giving out, but Flynn was giving me the best sex of my entire fucking life.

Surprising myself, I screamed as I felt something inside me snap. My jaw dropped in a shocked ‘o’ as I felt everything gush from me.

My wetness exploded against his cock and Flynn hollered as he let go, too. I felt every spurt of his cum inside me but wasn’t even really paying attention. I was seeing spots in my vision as I sprayed across his abdomen and I dripped onto the shower floor.

When we finally came down, Flynn’s thrusts slowed up, calm and controlled again, languidly going in and out of me as I shuddered against him. I hadn’t really been expecting any of this, and neither was my body.

Flynn leant his head against mine as one of my legs came down and I gingerly set my weight on it. The other leg was still bent around his waist, held there by one of his strong arms. His other had a hand on my jawline, making me look up at him with dazed vision.

He was chuckling lowly at the drunk look in my eyes.

I felt drunk, too.

“You just squirted everywhere, kitten,” he chuckled. My eyes widened only slightly, looking up at him in shock. I don’t think I’d ever done that before.

He shushed me with a kiss before I could utter a word, and left me mewling into his lips as he literally took my breath away.

I would have melted into his shower floor in a pool of exhaustion if he hadn’t been holding me up.

.

The next few days were weird around the house. I didn’t see Flynn around for a while, mostly because I was doing late hours at Aunt B’s helping Lisa organize catering for a fundraiser next week. I also knew from Hannah that sometimes he got into a mood where he would spend days at a time in his studio inspired to create.

There was definitely evidence of him being around, though. Like the night I slept in my room, I’d woken up to the indent of someone else having slept there too, which explained how warm I’d been that night.

Or like the night I fell asleep in front of the television watching some shitty Netflix show about blind dating but woke up covered in a blanket at two in the morning before dragging myself upstairs to bed.

Now, the third day felt weird. We’d been around eachother so much in the beginning – kind of – that now it felt weird. Especially since every time we were around each other, we seemed to fall into bed. Well… sometimes it wasn’t technically a bed, but you get the picture.

I frowned as I padded through the house to head downstairs. It was around midnight and I’d only woken up because I had been too exhausted to eat dinner before I fell asleep, so now I was snackish.

The house was dark and quiet. I figured Flynn was still down in his studio, oblivious to the time at all. Curious, I found myself taking the stairs down to his studio.

I tapped on the door quietly but there was no answer. With a frown, I pushed it open and took a peek inside, only to see that the place was empty. Matisse lifted her head, looking at me from her perch on a recliner against the wall.

Disinterested that I was Flynn, she quickly looked away with a huff and curled closer into herself, going back to sleep. Her tail flicked lazily and I shrugged to myself.

 _He must have just gone to bed_ , I thought to myself.

With a sigh, I climbed the stairs again, heading towards the kitchen to find some kind of food. I had brought home some flourless chocolate muffins that Lisa had made that were _bomb_ , so I figured I could stuff one in my mouth and hold off on an actual meal until the morning. Only… I never made it to the kitchen.

As I rounded the corner from the stairwell, out of habit I looked out the bay window doors to the pool to admire the view for a moment before I walked towards the kitchen.

I did a double take.

Botticelli was sitting patiently at the closed glass door, looking out as his tail swept slowly side to side. My eyes widened when I realized that Flynn was standing outside. I stopped short in my tracks.

I frowned, wondering what he was doing. It was hard to tell in the dim light, but luckily, the patio light around the corner was always on because there was a security camera around there, so it provided a small amount of light for me.

I padded a little closer, leaning down to scratch Botticelli behind the ears when he snaked between my legs. He seemed a little nervous, but curious mostly as his eyes kept darting back outside to Flynn.

I realized that he must have been fiddling with something in front of him because he was slightly hunched over.

Biting my lip, I decided to go out there. I let the glass door slide open slowly, making sure to keep Botticelli inside. Flynn turned slightly when he heard the noise and his eye caught mine.

He gave me a small nod of acknowledgement.

The slight turn of his body allowed me to see what was in front of him, and my eyebrow quirked when I realized what he was doing.

Sitting on the patio table was a skinny tortoiseshell cat. In Flynn’s palm was a handful of dry cat food. I crossed my arms over my chest with a slight grin.

“Where’d you find this little guy?” I asked, my voice sounding foreign as the only noise in the quiet air. “And why are you feeding it?”

Flynn just grinned, shrugging. He wasn’t startled by my presence. He was as calm and collected as ever.

“Because it looked hungry…” he said. “It just wandered over.”

I frowned. “You know it might just keep coming back if you keep feeding it,” I warned.

Flynn gave a small smile, not meeting my eye as the little cat ate out of his palm. He shrugged at my words and I rolled my eyes with a small smile.

“What are you doing up?” he asked, his voice low as he raised his hand to pet the cat. It didn’t shy away from him. It actually leant closer to bump its head into his hand.

I shrugged, crossing my arms over my chest as I suddenly became very aware that I wasn’t wearing a bra, and the combination of the light breeze and the cold concrete was sending a chill down my spine.

“I was hungry, too. I went to bed without dinner,” I admitted. Flynn looked up with a frown, settling his concerned gaze on me.

“Do you do that often?” he asked. I frowned, my eyebrows furrowing. There seemed like there was something else he wanted to say but I couldn’t figure it out. I shook my head.

“No, I was just tired today,” I said. “Lay down for a second when I got home and just seemed to fall asleep as soon as my head it the pillow. I didn’t exactly plan for that to happen.”

I gave him a small smile and he nodded once.

“Oh.”

I nodded. There was a moment of silence between us again as the cat stole his attention.

“What were _you_ doing out here?” I asked, eyeing his own bare feet and thin cotton shirt. He met my gaze after a moment with the hint of a smile quirking at his lips.

“I like it out here at night,” he said. “It’s peaceful…”

I bit my lip, frowning slightly when his voice started to sound faraway, like he was lost in thought. His eyes looked sad as he stared out at the view.

I didn’t really know how to take that, and not for the first time I was beginning to both question why he never left his house, but also to understand it. There was something that kept him up at night, something that he used art to distract himself from.

And I guess, something that he used _me_ to distract him from these days.

I wanted to know what it was, but I didn’t think I ever would. I shivered, my shoulders hunching unwittingly in the breeze.

“Don’t you get cold?” I asked, my voice soft.

Flynn just chuckled, shrugging with the shake of his head. This was a different man than I’d come to know. Not in a bad way…, just different.

“You get used to it,” he said, a slight bite in his tone. I frowned, watching him in silence. The cat at his hand moved so that it rubbed its back along his palm. It seemed to bring him back to reality and he paid attention to it again.

I bit my lip on a long exhale, trying to get used to the cold. It didn’t really work and I was worried that my teeth would start to chatter if I spent any longer out here.

“Okay…” I trailed off. “Well, I’ll leave you to it, then,” I said. “I was just going to get my snack and then go back to bed.”

Flynn didn’t answer me so I turned back to the patio door. Botticelli was looking at me through the glass. I opened the door halfway, stepping into the opening.

“I guess, I’ll see you tomorrow?” I asked, my voice soft so as not to startle him. He didn’t turn his head all the way around, just cocked it in my direction before nodding once.

I bit my lip, nodding too. I moved to pull the door closed.

“Goodnight, Kingsley,” Flynn uttered, his voice low as he turned to catch my eye. I paused, locking his gaze and giving him a small smile.

“Goodnight, Flynn,” I said, my voice soft. I hoped I was the only one who could hear the breathiness of it. He nodded once before turning back around. I shook my head and shut the door, making my way to the kitchen with my head swimming with questions that might never be answered.

.

**He likes all kinds of kittens**


	8. Seven: In Which She Learns New Tricks

**SEVEN: In Which She Learns New Tricks**

**Kingsley**

Two weeks. Two weeks since I’d walked outside to see him feeding that cat. Two weeks more of working at a job that I was really starting to hate – no really, I would have quit on day two if it weren’t for Lisa. Two more weeks of lying to my best friend. Two more weeks of Flynn and I being together – but also not, at the same time.

I didn’t understand what we were… _Friends with benefits?_

That didn’t sound right to me since I didn’t even know if we’d been friends to begin with. He was a confusing man, that was for sure. He was happy to indulge in my company at night but then he was a goner by morning.

From what Hannah had told me as kids, he always hadn’t been around all that much, and I knew that going into this. Yet, it still felt weird to wake up to an empty bed when it had been full going to sleep.

We weren’t in a relationship, so his habits weren’t exactly red flags, but they weren’t real confidence boosters either. I figured he was an early riser and late to go to bed when I’d first moved in.

He just seemed to spend all his time in that studio and I was beginning to understand why Hannah had wanted someone here to check up on him. He just wasn’t the type to ever really leave his house.

If I asked, I doubt he’d even be able to remember when the last time he’d left his property was. I sighed, running a hand through my hair. I was standing in his bathroom brushing my hair.

I’d woken up alone again, unlike yesterday.

Something had come over him yesterday – my day off – and he’d told me he was hungry for breakfast. Confused, I’d moved to go and see what we had in the kitchen, thinking that maybe he was trying to tell me in his own way he wanted to eat breakfast together.

I had been so unbelievably wrong, because as soon as I’d made a move to get out of bed, he’d grabbed my arm to stop me.

“Not what I meant, kitten,” he said, giving me a soft grin. I frowned, parting my lips to ask a question but he cut me off with a kiss.

“My appetite is calling for something a little richer than anything that could be found downstairs,” he said, his voice hoarse and his eyebrow raising, begging me to understand. My jaw dropped.

And my nipples hardened.

I hadn’t stopped him when he leant forward and took one of my hardened nipples between his lips, suckling and lightly grazing his teeth against me. I shivered all over, reveling in the feeling of it.

My head fell back into the pillow as my eyes squeezed shut. He was talented with his mouth, that much was for sure. I let out a breathy moan when his fingers paid attention to my other breast, squeezing and pinching at the nipple and making me keen against him.

His naked front rubbed against mine and my kitty grazed along the smooth skin of his lower abdomen. Surely, I left a trail of arousal there. That was slightly mortifying.

But Flynn didn’t seem to care. The pressure of his lips against my chest was driving me crazy as he swapped over, giving attention to my other breast. He suckled like a newborn expecting milk, only I had nothing to give. The strength of his tongue made my eyes roll into the back of my head as pleasure sung through my body. I felt high on him.

I moaned breathily, one hand twisting in his hair, holding him close, and the other twisting in the bedsheets. One of my legs came up, bending around him and linking behind his back as I shamelessly rubbed my core against his skin for some kind of friction. My clit bumped against his muscles, making me moan like a whore.

When I felt a zing of pleasure hit my core I groaned, gripping his hair, and pulling his face up to mine, practically begging him to devour me.

His cock bumped at my apex as he moved to press his lips hard against mine and I whimpered.

“If you don’t fuck me right this second, I’ll cut your balls off,” I promised darkly, my eyes hooded. Flynn gave me a low chuckle as the tip of his erection found my core.

I let out a long groan as he slid inside, bottoming out inside me and filling me up completely.

I could feel him in my fucking chest.

I swore when I felt him pulse inside me, getting thicker and filling me up. My kitty clenched him in response and he groaned, his lips falling to just below my ear, suckling at the skin.

His thrusts were long and slow with that everlasting control that I was beginning to get accustomed to. I could understand now why he was willing to go so slow and hold off for so long. It was the best kind of slow build-up foreplay a girl could ask for – teasing and tantalizing. Just like him.

Enough to set my nerve endings on fire and for my orgasm to finally push me into a godly realm.

Flynn was better in bed than anyone I’d ever had – which wasn’t saying much because my roster wasn’t very long – but still.

He had them all beaten by miles.

His lips were on mine, barely taking a break to breath as he fucked me. My hands were in his hand and dragging down his back. Tugging on his locks and scraping his skin.

He groaned into my lips as his thrusts became a little faster and a little sloppier as we sped up. He did exactly what he set out to do, devouring my tongue and my lips and my mouth as our teeth gnashed and we fought for dominance.

He ate me like he was dying and I was his last meal. He fucked me like he was leaving for war tomorrow. I was a mewling begging mess by the time he kicked into gear and pounded into me.

I could barely handle the weight of him on top of me as he touched me everywhere he could. He was right, I was his breakfast.

He was an animal and I didn’t care. I wanted him for as long as he wanted me. My climax came just moments before his, but he made sure to push and press against every pressure point that made me see stars to elongate my pleasure.

That made man me see fucking stars. He made my vision blurry and spotty and dark as my body succumbed to nothing but the things he made me feel.

He bit into my lower lip and I moaned unashamedly when he came inside me. I was glad I’d gone to the get myself on the shot weeks ago. Because, my sexual appetite around this man was something I couldn’t control anymore, and neither of us were being particularly careful.

I closed my eyes and shivered just at the memory of it. The whole act had been a surprise that morning, and not an unwelcome one. I seemed to accept any kind of attention he would give me. I didn’t think it was healthy but I also couldn’t seem to want to say no.

The rest of the day had ended up turning out alright, though. I had mostly relaxed around the house, sunbathing and the like, trying not to think about the stress of going back to work the next day.

Flynn had eaten both lunch and dinner _with_ me, instead of _off_ me like that morning. But had then retreated back to his studio to work. I couldn’t really complain. It was nice to have his company, but I understood his work ethic.

And now today, I was groaning at the thought of having to head back to _Aunt B’s_. It was inventory day and I was not looking forward to it.

I reefed the hairbrush through the rest of my hair, settling the kinks that had somehow formed after my sad attempt at using Hannah’s old flat iron.

There wasn’t really any use to it, because the humidity made my hair so uncharacteristically big anyway. I looked like Monica in the Barbados episodes, except my hair was a dull dirty blonde color and much longer.

Now I just had a halo of voluminous hair to try and control. Sighing, I wrangled it into some semblance of a messy bun. I glared at my uncooperative hair.

Now I looked like Marge Simpson.

I sighed. This would have to do. I rubbed at my eyes, forgoing the makeup this morning and heading down to the kitchen. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I noticed something in the front foyer out of the corner of my eye.

Frowning, I went to investigate.

Wide eyed, I realized that the lump in the exact center of the floor was that skinny tortoiseshell cat that I’d seen Flynn feeding a while ago.

I wondered how it had made its way inside. I wondered if Flynn had given in and let it inside. I wasn’t sure if that was a good idea.

I saw Botticelli peering around a nearby doorway, obviously curious. I worried that they might try to attack each other if I left them alone. While Botticelli was a fairly mild-mannered cat, I wasn’t sure about this one.

I sighed, I didn’t really have time to babysit.

“Shoo,” I said to the cat. “Outside.” I tried to make shooing motions with my hands to scare it away. The cat didn’t care. It just looked at me. I sighed, putting my hands on my hips as it stayed put.

I didn’t know how else I was supposed to get this cat out of here. The tortoiseshell seemed to make an easy decision for me, though.

I froze as it stood up and walked closer to me. It rubbed across my shins like Botticelli usually did. I couldn’t help it. That little cat melted my heart.

With I sigh, I bent down slowly, letting it get used to my presence. I carefully pet its head, and it did that cute bump thing, letting me know it was okay with me.

Rolling my eyes at my own lack of willpower, I picked it up. The cat didn’t protest or try to get away – very strange for a cat that didn’t know me, I thought. _Maybe it can smell Flynn’s cologne on me?_ I wondered as an afterthought.

I walked with the cat to the kitchen where I knew Flynn kept the catfood. Botticelli followed us a few paces behind, keeping his distance.

I set the tortoiseshell on the counter as I got a bowl of food ready. I knew I shouldn’t have because it didn’t belong to me, but the cat was way too skinny.

An extra meal wouldn’t do it any harm. It even let me glide my hand down its back as it ate.

“Look who’s feeding the stray, now…”

I spun around quickly, my heart racing from the shock of being crept up on. I didn’t even hear him come in. My eyes raked down Flynn’s toned body as he leant against the counter at the other end of the kitchen. He had his hands in his trouser pockets and _how the hell did he make that look sexy?_

He rose an eyebrow at me, his lip twitching to quirk up into a grin. He knew I was checking him out. He could probably hear my heart racing from across the room.

I’m sure my arousal was evident in the blush in my cheeks.

I bit my lip, my eyes light with a smirk. “So you think it’s a stray?”

He nodded. “She.”

I bit my lip again, absentmindedly stroking the cat’s back. She didn’t even flinch.

“Well, she’s very calm for a stray, don’t you think?” I asked. “Some little girl is probably missing her…”

I watched Botticelli jump up onto the bench beside Flynn, begging for his owner to show him some love, jealous that it was all going to a stranger. Flynn gave a light smile to his cat as he scratched him on the head calmly.

“Probably…” he sighed, glancing up at me. “I’ll get someone out her to scan her chip tomorrow. For now, we’ll set up a little bed for her to have somewhere to stay.” His voice seemed slightly sad.

I narrowed my eyes at him, a small smile forming on my lips as the realization finally clicked in my head.

“You want to keep her… _don’t you?_ ” I accused teasingly, my voice light. I wanted to laugh. I watched as Flynn turned away from me, the tips of his ears red with his blush.

I grinned. “You have a problem,” I giggled. “ _I can’t believe I like the crazy cat guy…_ ” I said under my breath. Flynn chuckled, though, obviously having heard me.

“Hmm,” he muses. “Crazy huh?”

He abandoned Botticelli and took steps closer to me until he was standing right in front of me. My hand dropped from the other cat as my head tilted upwards to look into his tawny golden eyes.

He exhaled deeply as his hand came up to cup my jaw. I couldn’t seem to look away.

“Crazy for you, maybe…” His voice was low. Promising.

Promising me _what_ exactly, I wasn’t sure. But damn it if I wanted it.

I gave him a shy smile, not being able to help the way my gaze dropped to his lips. He pursed them slightly before he leant forward, pressing them to mine.

My eyes fluttered closed as my mouth opened with his, letting him in. That familiar apple flavor landed on my tongue and I couldn’t help but smile.

My lips tingled as he kissed me, nipping at them slightly.

I wanted him to give me so much more, but he leant away.

I jumped, startled as the tortoiseshell cat jumped off the counter. Flynn and I both turned slightly to watch it walk gracefully and proudly from the room.

My chin was still caught between his thumb and forefinger when he turned back to face me.

His eyes burned into mine for a moment as we stood in the charged silence. My chest felt tight as we looked at each other.

After a moment, his lip quirked up and he absentmindedly stroked my jaw. But then his hand dropped and I was watching his impossibly taut ass walk away from me and retreat back to his studio.

I let out a long sigh. The constricting of my chest didn’t let up. I knew I had to get to work.

Botticelli walked across the counter towards me and bumped his head against my elbow. I folded him into my open arms, letting him love on me.

When he looked up at me curiously, sniffing at my hands where I’d pet the other cat, I nodded at him.

“Yeah…, I don’t know what to do about him, either, buddy…”

.

I decided that Flynn’s aversion to spending time with me outside the bedroom was behind me. No more not seeing him for days and no more lack of contact outside of sex.

No more waiting around to see when he would give me a moment of his time. That was pathetic of me and so unlike me.

The arrangement was starting to make me feel dejected and weird, so if he wasn’t going to initiate anything then I was going to take it upon myself to cement myself within his company whenever I wasn’t at work.

Which was why it was now one in the morning and I was sitting down in his studio while he worked. I was content for us to not actually say anything to eachother – after all, this was his workspace and it wasn’t like I didn’t want him to be able to complete his new sculpture.

Speaking of which, it seemed it was coming along nicely. I mean, I didn’t know how much of a productive person he had been before I lived at his house, but it seemed like there was a new thing happening down here each time I came down.

It was nice to see him excited and focused about his work.

And really sexy. You know some people have weird turn ons? I think mine was watching him so engaged with his own art. That kind of intelligence and concentration was hot.

And it clued me in a little bit more to his personality.

I understood why he was such a quiet person. He didn’t talk to anyone for the majority of most days because he was so focused on his work, so I could understand why it might become a habit.

Plus, the super self-control in sex had to have come from his patience with his art.

Like I said – unbelievably sexy.

In my time spent in the studio, I’d also found out that when he took breaks to work out, he often omitted a shirt for the remainder of the day to work.

I didn’t know if that was out of habit or if it was really just for my benefit when I was down here. Either way, I wasn’t complaining.

Right now, he was working on assembling a cube looking thing out of paperclips that was about the same height as a coffee table. It looked different every day so I couldn’t really ascertain what it was as of yet.

I had my earphones in one ear listening to my crime podcast and I was mindlessly doodling on a notebook in front of me. Flynn had given it to me from his stash after a few nights of me being down here with nothing to do.

He said it was unnerving to have me in his space and not occupied with something. Understandable – I don’t know if I could have worked with someone watching over me the whole time.

Either way, it was the reaction that I had wanted. I liked that my presence had unnerved him because it meant that he was at least paying attention to me. If I could make him get used to me in this space, then it wouldn’t be so weird and awkward for us to pop in on each other around the house.

I was trying to prove to him that he could be comfortable with me outside of the bedroom and that not everything we did had to be sexually charged.

Of course, the lack of his shirt and my attraction to his work ethic didn’t really help that overall goal. But hey, it’s a work in progress.

I bit my lip as I put the finishing touches on my juvenile little sketch. I hadn’t known what to draw the for the first little while I’d had the notebook, mostly because I wasn’t very good. But, I had started using all of the sketches and artworks on Flynn’s walls as inspiration.

Plus, the crime podcast playing in my ears, or sometimes when I had the news on. The news was good inspiration because the only stories at one in the morning are the really outrageously crazy ones like a guy drove his car full of weed into a gas station and it blew up but then all the cops who came to the scene got high of the burning weed.

That had been fun to draw.

I flinched when I realized someone was standing over me, looking at what I was doing. My cheeks flamed at feeling his body heat from how close he was. I managed to lift my head a bit, turning his way to look at him.

He had an almost grin on his face at my drawing. I didn’t know why. The sketch was juvenile at best.

“It’s good,” he said, his voice light. I frowned as I looked down at the sketch. I’d drawn the political debate between Trump and Clinton. Both figures had really overexaggerated features to make it more comical but I wouldn’t have necessarily said it was ‘good’.

“Really?” I asked, unconvinced. Flynn looked at me sideways, giving me one nod.

“Actually, yeah,” he said, impressed. “You could draw for a political newspaper if you wanted to, you know. You have that style.”

I frowned, looking down at the drawing. Maybe he was seeing something that I wasn’t? Either way, it was weird to hear praise from him. I’d always been fairly average at everything with no actual real skill or knack for anything.

It was one of the reasons I’d chosen to travel overseas for casual work instead of going to college – well that, and for having a lack of money for college…

“I don’t think so,” I said, screwing up my nose, not used to compliments. “Art isn’t really my thing.”

Flynn leaned back, standing up straight to look down at me. I turned my head to watch him.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” he said, shrugging. “Art is everyone’s thing. You just have to find what’s right for you. Everyone has their own ‘art’, even if it’s not what you might traditionally think of…”

I frowned, considering his words.

“You think so?”

He nodded once, sure and strong. “I know so. Like Tom Brady’s art for example is being _very_ good at his craft as a quarterback. Or if you wanted to go the political route, Trump’s art is being able to convince the working class of America that he could fix their economy simply because he’s a successful businessman; it’s why he was successful at becoming President. Art is completely up to interpretation, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t art.”

I bit my lip, beginning to understand what he was getting at.

“Do you think you could teach me to do what you do?” I asked curiously.

I watched Flynn’s eyebrow raise in surprise. Then he nodded.

“What would you like to learn?”

I bit my lip, unsure. I looked around the room. His paperclip sculpture looked complicated. I wasn’t too big a fan of painting. Then my eyes settled on a table with some draying clay on it.

“Teach me to sculpt?” I asked, gesturing to the clay. Flynn’s gaze followed my hand and he gave me a soft look when he realized what I was getting at.

He grinned. “Sure. Though, it’s a lot different than you might think. You have to _feel_ it. Feel the clay underneath your fingernails and close your eyes and just let your hands shape the images flashing in your brain,” he said. “It’s sensual. It’s like second nature. Even if you don’t know what you’ve made, it’s still a step in the right direction. Hell… you can’t tell what my pieces are at any given time _until_ they all come together as one in the end. Maybe that’s what you need…”

I stood up beside him with a grin, cocking my eyebrow at his words with a smirk.

“Will you hold my hands and guide me like Patrick Swayze?” I smirked, joking. Well… maybe only half joking.

Flynn chuckled, rolling his eyes. “Only if you’re a good girl,” he teased.

I laughed out loud at that, trying to hide my slight blush. I couldn’t help the flush of warmth that travelled to my kitty at his tone. Flynn’s lip quirked up and then he brought me over to the clay. He gestured for me to sit before he went over to another part of the room.

He came back only a moment later with a block of fresh clay, and then he sat down beside me, putting it in front of me.

He moved to hold my hands, showing me how to put pressure on it in the right way; how to eliminate bubbles; how to mold two separate pieces together. I liked the feeling of it all. It was cooler than I had expected and I didn’t know why.

Then he stood back. I looked up at him, unsure, but he just nodded.

“Go ahead,” he said. I frowned but turned back to the clay. “Just go where your mind takes you,” he grinned. “Just promise me one thing?”

I looked up at him and he grinned at me. “Yeah?”

“Don’t make a dick,” he said, his face serious. “I’m not gonna cook that in my kiln.”

I laughed again and he grinned before walking away.

I spent the next hour or so feeling my way through the clay. I ended up making something that kind of resembled a pineapple, but also not really the longer you looked at it.

I frowned. It was bulbous on the bottom and then came up to look like spikes on the top. I didn’t really know what it was supposed to be. I frowned again, feeling disheartened.

I didn’t move for about five minutes, simply just frowned at what I’d made. Flynn ended up coming up behind me and he noticed my predicament.

He grinned at me. “Want to know the best part about clay?” he asked.

I looked up at him, quirking my eyebrow.

He shrugged. “If you’re not happy with it, you can just take a fist to it and start again.”

My eyes widened and the hint of a smile threatened to tug on my lip.

“Really?” I asked, making a fist. “It won’t make a mess?”

Flynn rolled his eyes and gestured to his studio.

“You think I’m worried about mess?” he asked. I looked around the room, not really understanding where he was coming from. The room was untidy sure, because there was stuff everywhere, but it wasn’t exactly messy.

I didn’t answer him, but he just chuckled, crossing his arms over his broad chest.

Then he looked at me expectantly. With a grin, I tightened my fist and looked back at my disappointing clay piece. Then I brought my fist down on it.

It gave way with a satisfying ‘squish squash’ sound every time I pounded it with my fist until it became a rounded little puddle of clay. I huffed out a laugh and Flynn grins.

“Sometimes, I feel like that’s the best frustration release,” he said, grinning. “Plus, it just means you can come back and try again.”

I froze at his words. I didn’t think he realized, but he’d just given me an invitation to work in his studio again. While before he’d never objected to my being down here, I had always just kind of invited myself in.

Now, he was actually giving me permission.

He was allowing me in his space – getting comfortable with it, even.

I smirked up at him, standing up and wrapping my arms around his neck. He looked surprised.

“I can think of a better frustration release,” I teased, pressing a peck to his lips. He chuckled and wrapped his arms around my waist, his gaze never leaving mine.

“Is that so?”

“Mmmhmm, it’s proven very effective,” I smirked.

“Hmm, well I can’t argue with that,” he chuckled, wrapping a hand in my hair and pulling me close again to kiss.

I could get used to this.

.

**She’s breaking down walls**


	9. Eight: In Which She Keeps Up A Ruse

**EIGHT: In Which She Keeps Up A Ruse**

**Kingsley**

I had the day off work. I’d been there for a few weeks and apparently arrived at my mandatory day off. They worked on a schedule so that while I normally had one day a week off, every few weeks I could get a second.

Something about trying to keep up morale…

I’d been smart enough to organize it so that I could get them one after the other so I had the whole weekend where I didn’t have to go in. It was freeing.

The other freeing part of everything was that since I’d been working so much and such long hours – and on a manager’s pay, which was surprisingly much more than minimum wage – my bank account was getting up to a point where I’d soon be able to start affording my own place and I wouldn’t have to rely on Hannah or Flynn anymore.

But… while I liked that I wouldn’t have to owe them anything now, I was a little unsure about what would happen between Flynn and I now.

We’d been getting more and more comfortable with each other over the last few weeks and I didn’t want to jeopardize anything by leaving. I knew he hadn’t left his house in maybe months, which was why I was so sure that if I left, he wouldn’t be visiting me to go on dates.

He wasn’t my boyfriend. But did I want him to be?

We had never actually had that discussion.

Despite how badly I felt I needed to know. I’d always been an _all-in_ kind of girl when it came to relationships, so the fact that this didn’t have a label was making me anxious. But I didn’t want to ask questions and risk screwing it up.

I really liked him. Everything that I’d come to learn about him over the last month and half only made me like him more, which surprised me.

Everything between us still felt like we were just friends – acquaintances, really – who had occasional sex. I wasn’t sure how to get us further. I knew that pushing for it would probably push him away.

He was just that kind of guy.

But, I also couldn’t just live here for the sake of being able to keep having sex with him. That already made me feel incredibly guilty, I felt like I was using him for a place to stay and that maybe he thought I was using sex to repay him.

I felt terrible about it.

But, I’d made up my mind the minute Hannah had offered me a place to stay here and I couldn’t exactly go back on it. It wasn’t fair to Flynn for me to keep taking up his space when he never really asked for it.

Plus, having the best sex of my life wasn’t a good enough excuse to keep living here.

Or lying to my best friend for that matter.

I was trying not to think about any of that today, though. I made my way downstairs, still fairly early, on the path to the kitchen. I was feeling like waffles this morning.

I got to the foot of the staircase and my eyes widened when I realized that the front door was open. Frowning, I made my way over. To my surprise, when I looked through the front door, I saw Flynn standing with a UPS guy.

There was a large cardboard box at Flynn’s feet as he signed for whatever was inside it. The delivery guy gave him a smile when he was finished before getting back into his van. Flynn picked up the box and gave the guy a small wave as he drove out of the driveway, around the decorative fountain.

When Flynn turned around, I watched him stop for less than a second in surprise at seeing me there before he recovered. I stepped to the side to let him in with the box, but I was still confused.

Neither of us said a word as I followed him to the den on this floor, the room I normally fell asleep watching television in.

Botticelli was sitting in his normal spot at the top of his little cat climbing castle. The other stray that we’d been housing for the last few days was sitting on one of the many comfortable reclining chairs. It watched the two of us calmly as we stood in the room.

I watched as Flynn put the box down on the floor.

“What did you order?” I asked when he stood up to look through his pant pockets for something to open the box with.

Flynn looked at me, startled, as if he’d only just realized I followed him. He gave me a sheepish grin with a shrug.

“The cat’s not chipped,” he said, as if that explained everything and actually answered my question. “The vet came yesterday while you were at work. She doesn’t belong to anyone, so…”

I rose an eyebrow at him, crossing my arms over my chest. Flynn rolled his eyes at the assuming grin on my face before his hand finally found some kind of letter opener or something in his pocket.

He crouched down to open the box. I could see from where I stood that it had a new cat bed, some food, a new litter tray, and some toys in it. To my surprise, she actually got off her perch on the recliner and made her way over to see what he was fussing over.

Curiously, she sat patiently beside the box, only sticking her head inside once it was completely empty. Flynn then picked up a collar and attached it around her neck.

When he took a few steps away to set up her little bed for her, I watched as the cat got inside the box and sat down. Giving her a slight grin, I leant down to fiddle with her collar.

She had a name tag.

“Toulouse?” I asked.

Flynn looked up at me from where he was setting up the new cat’s things. He nodded once.

“Yeah. After Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec,” he said, as if it was the most normal thing to say. It was a weird name, so I guessed it fit on par with Botticelli and Matisse.

“He’s a 19th century French painter,” Flynn filled in when he noticed the odd look on my face. Sheepishly, I unscrewed my nose and instead let my hand stroke down Toulouse’s back. If I wasn’t mistaken, she purred when I reached a spot she wanted me to scratch. “You’d recognize some of his work,” Flynn continued.

I looked up at him to see him standing over me, arms crossed and grinning slightly. I blushed.

“Oh… okay.” I frowned. “Why not after a girl, though?”

I stood up and Flynn’s eyes followed mine. Toulouse lay down in her new cardboard box, seemingly more entertained by it than any of the toys Flynn had bought her.

The man just grinned at me as I cocked my eyebrow in question.

“I dunno,” he said, his voice low. “I think it suits her.”

I gave a small chuckle, shaking my head. The man couldn’t be argued with. I knew as soon as I saw him with that cat outside that something had been up. Even if she had belonged to someone, I’m not sure he could’ve given her up.

He was already so attached.

“You named her a long time ago, didn’t you,” I grinned accusingly.

Flynn looked away, refusing to meet my eye. I chuckled.

“You’re impossible, you know,” I smiled. Flynn gave a small chuckle of laughter at that.

I was then distracted by the feel of something brushing against my shin. Looking down, I realized the Botticelli was standing between my legs, watching his new housemate.

I grinned. Toulouse was sitting in her box watching him carefully, too. I refused to move. I assumed Flynn was watching what I was watching, too.

I had never had much experience with introducing one cat to another, but my gut instinct told me to freeze and not force anything. They’d already been getting used to being in each other’s space the last few days, so maybe Botticelli’s initiative to finally come and investigate close up meant that he was ready to be friends with her.

When he took a cautious step closer to the box, Toulouse didn’t move. I felt something on my hand and blushed when I realized that Flynn had reached out to hold it.

I didn’t dare look into his eyes, instead choosing to focus on the two cats at our feet.

Daringly, Botticelli moved to put one paw on the edge of the box. Toulouse didn’t bat him away, so he took another and put it up there, too.

After a few moments of me holding my breath and reminding my lungs that they actually needed to circulate air in order for me to stay alive, Botticelli jumped inside the box.

I gave a little smile when Toulouse leaned closer to him. They gave each other a cursory smell, but it was already obvious to me that it was like friendship at first sight or something similar.

Botticelli purred when Toulouse started grooming his head.

I froze up when I felt something in my hand. I felt warm all over but I realized that Flynn was languidly stroking at the back of my hand with his thumb. I wasn’t even sure if he realized he was doing it, because he was just watching the cats.

I blushed to myself at the thought that he might be doing it absentmindedly. The romantic part of me liked to think that it was his instinct and that he wasn’t even really thinking about what he was doing.

Holding his hand was easy.

Being comfortable with him was easy for me. I just liked that it was getting easier for him, too. I liked that I was getting through to him in ways that didn’t involve sex.

It made me feel closer to him, though I wondered how long that would last.

.

I spent the rest of the morning with music blasting through my earphones as I worked on the clay Flynn had given me in his studio. I was taking his advice and letting what I was hearing influence how I was molding.

Flynn was in the studio, too, working on his paperclip cube. I still didn’t know what it was yet, but a part of me thought he liked it that way. He liked being the only one in on the secret until it was finally unveiled as a whole.

And I liked the mystery, which is why I never thought to ask him to explain exactly what his vision was. I’d never asked because I wanted to be as surprised as everyone else when they saw it for the first time.

I wanted to be wowed by him and his talent, knowing just how long and how much effort it had taken him to pull it all off.

We’d been down there all morning. I could understand how he lost track of time in that room. There was no natural light to clue you in on the passing of time, plus he didn’t where a watch and there were no clocks in the room.

The whole place was like a rift in time. You could get lost there.

I wondered how he ever managed to keep himself on some kind of schedule.

Looking up from my clay, I let my eyes wander around the room. I was bored of what I was working on and ready for something else to entertain me. I settled on simply watching Flynn as he worked.

He ignored me for the most part, though I was surprised at the amount of times he looked up and over at me. He’d been momentarily startled when we locked eyes the first time, but after that he got used to it.

I was more surprised that he looked my way at all, and a part of me wondered whether he was doing it because he could feel my gaze on him, or whether he’d already been doing it before. Like out of habit.

He was a curious man.

I watched him for a while, unaware of the time passing. He was fiddling with the paperclips, trying to get them to attach in some kind of tight formations so that they wouldn’t break apart.

My eyebrows furrowed together as I watched him. The way that he had to be bent over to fix it meant that his hair was falling in his eyes slightly. I watched him get more frustrated with each time that he had to push it out of his eyeline, only for it to flop back there over time.

I frowned when I let out a small grunt of frustration as three paperclips sprung from his hand and onto the floor.

“I could cut it for you,” I offered, pulling an earbud from my ear. Flynn cocked his head in my direction, his eyebrow quirking in question. I inclined my head slightly towards him in a short nod.

“Your hair,” I clarified. “I can cut it for you if it’s bothering you…”

Flynn stopped working for a moment as he considered my proposition. He seemed to think it over before he shrugged, giving me a nod. I smiled before hopping out of my chair. Flynn abandoned his cube and began walking from the room.

I followed him silently as we made our way upstairs. He went to go and get whatever clippers of scissors he might have while I went out to the patio.

“Thanks,” he said, his voice low as he handed them over. I shrugged.

“It’s no problem.”

Flynn took a seat in front of me and I stood behind him. I’d found a towel so I wrapped it around his shoulders so that he wouldn’t get hair all over him.

I already knew the basics of cutting hair because I used to have to cut my dad’s hair at home when he wanted to save on money – back before he and my mother were at war against each other.

I started measuring out Flynn’s hair between my fingertips.

“Not too much,” he said, his voice low. My fingers froze as I frowned.

“Okay, I was just going to trim,” I reassured him. “But, out of curiosity, why not?”

Flynn didn’t answer me for a while and I was surprised to see the tips of his ears go red as he flushed. It made me bite my slip slightly.

“I like when you pull on it,” he finally admitted in nothing more than a mutter. I blushed too, at that.

“ _Oh_ …” I had to squeeze my thighs together to stop the flood of arousal to my kitty at his words. If he kept this up, my panties would be flooded by the time I was finished.

I wanted to fuck him right on this chair.

I bit my lip, shaking my head to rid it of the thoughts as I got back to work. His hair was soft, and just another thing that smelled like apples. I could understand other reasons for him not wanting it too short – because I knew curly hair didn’t respond well to a short length.

I got to work trimming him up, making sure it was all even. I was almost dreading the moment I’d have to walk in front of him to measure his hair as I was without a mirror.

My stomach felt tight. Clenching hard enough with arousal for my panties to be drenched. And he had barely said anything to make it happen… I was worried about what he was turning me into.

That maybe the last few weeks of great sex had turned me into someone incapable of functioning now that I’d found out what really good dick could feel like. I was afraid he had ruined me. How could I not think that when the simplest of implications from him had me weak at the knees.

With a grit of my teeth, I walked around to his front. I had to stand between his parted legs to work on his hair. It didn’t help that all this position made me think of was how many times I had sunk down on his cock from here. Pulling on the very hair he’d asked me specifically to keep long, just because he liked how it felt to be tugged on mid-orgasm.

My pulse was thundering through my veins, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he could hear it. His head was close enough to my chest that it wasn’t totally implausible.

My cheeks flamed at the thought of it. I didn’t know how I was holding back from having him fuck me right now.

I didn’t know how I was managing to make this more sexual than it was. In fact, the fact that I was holding scissors right now should have been enough for me to snap out of it. I shuddered slightly at the thought of just how dangerous that could turn out.

Flynn seemed to notice my shudder, as his head inclined slightly to look at me. I pretended I didn’t notice as I bit my lip.

But then I had to crouch down until we were at eye level so that I could make sure his hair was level.

The intensity of his eyes staring into mine made my lungs forget that they had a job to do. The tawny gold color of them matched the glow of the midday sun.

My mouth watered, my lips parting as we stared at each other. I couldn’t explain that look in his eyes, but I knew it was making my heart race in a way that no one had ever managed before.

Shaking myself out of it, blinking twice before clearing my throat, I finally managed to find my voice.

“I… Uhhh– I think I’m done,” I said, my voice barely more than a whisper. Flynn didn’t say anything, but I watched his gaze flip between my eyes and my lips. His pupils dilated slowly as we stared at each other in silence.

Watching it happen only made my nipples harden against my t-shirt. I wanted so badly to lean closer to him and press my lips to his. I was hungry for it, practically begging him to do it.

“Hey guys,” I heard a voice say from behind me.

I flung from Flynn like I’d been burned. I was so startled that I fell flat on my ass. Grimacing and resisting the urge to massage it from the pain, I looked upwards and saw the upside-down face of my best friend staring back at me with a confused looking grin.

“Hannah?” I said, my voice high and squeaky. I was shocked to see her there. I shouldn’t have been, but I was.

“Hi, Kingi,” she grinned down at me before extending her hand to help me up. Once I was on my feet she wrapped an arm around my waist in a half-hug.

“Uhh… hi?” I said breathily.

“Did I interrupt something?” she asked, her voice unsure as her eyes flipped between her father and I. My cheeks were flamed and my fingers practically trembled.

I looked to Flynn for help, who was standing up slowly and running a hand through his hair. He cast me a cursory glance before his gaze settled on his daughter. She unwrapped me and instead folded her father into a hug.

“Hello, darling,” he said, his voice low as his eyes locked onto mine. “Of course not, Kingsley was just giving me a trim.”

Hannah leant away from her dad and looked back at me, her eyes flicking down to the scissors in my hand.

“Oh. Okay… well, did you forget I was coming today?” she asked, her eyebrows furrowed. My eyes widened. _Since when was Hannah making house visits?_

I looked to Flynn who was purposefully averting his gaze from mine. Why wouldn’t he have told me she was coming? Was he trying to set me up for something? Had he wanted Hannah to walk in on whatever the fuck had just been going on between us?

Some warning would have been fucking nice, because then I wouldn’t have put myself in a position to be so turned on by him. Though, I was practically in that position all the time, now. It was pretty much unavoidable.

“Of course not,” Flynn assured her. “I ordered food specifically for the occasion.”

I frowned. “Sorry, uhh? What occasion?”

Hannah gave me a smile, bouncing over to me as she took my hand. “Nothing special,” she grinned. “I just came to have lunch with Dad and to see how everything is going. I called him yesterday to organize it…”

I nodded once. “Oh, okay, I just didn’t know anyone was coming by today,” I said, looking pointedly at Flynn. He ignored me, walking towards the patio door. It only made me want to glare at his back as he moved.

Hannah seemed to shrug off my abrasiveness. I was more in shock at having guests seeing as no one had come by in the last almost two months I’d been here.

Delivery drivers didn’t count.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair and deciding to shake it off. Flynn probably hadn’t meant for it to turn out like it did, he probably meant for Hannah’s visit to be a nice surprise for my day off.

He couldn’t have known I’d offer to cut his hair, and then have Hannah interrupt what could have turned into a very pornographic thing to walk in on. It wasn’t his fault that I couldn’t control my hormones around him.

Well it was… but not really.

The next half hour or so was spent getting things ready for the lunch. Hannah poured a round of champagne for the three of us and we all sort of stood around the kitchen as Flynn started pulling food from the fridge that I hadn’t even realized was in there.

There was a fancy platter of what looked like some kind of noodle peanut chicken salad, as well as some lasagna. My mouth practically watered at the sight of it.

I didn’t believe Flynn had made it himself, so assumed he’d got it catered from somewhere. I wondered just how much time he’d had to get it organized…

Flynn let the oven heat up before he put the lasagna in to warm up. Hannah and I took the salad and the drinks to the dining table, setting it nicely.

“Or should we eat on the patio?” Hannah wondered aloud. I bit my lip, shrugging.

“Yeah, that might be nice,” I agreed. We quickly moved everything outside to the lounging furniture. When we sat down with our drinks, Hannah leaned over to me, a determined look in her eye.

My eyebrow rose slightly.

“So, how’s he doing?” she asked, her voice low and her eyes darting towards where Flynn might be able to hear us. “You know? I mean, I know you’re at work most days now but is he eating? Sleeping? Getting out of that studio?”

I bit my lip. She sounded worried, but in like a motherly kind of way. She figured he was lonely. She didn’t need to know the reality of Flynn’s and my living situation.

I nodded. “Eating, yes. Sleeping, yes, but not much I don’t think. I don’t really see him much,” I admitted, keeping some things to myself. “He goes to bed long after me and then goes back down to his studio before I wake up and leave for work.”

Hannah frowned at me.

“But, then… how would you know he’s come upstairs at all? How do you know he’s not just keeping himself up all night down in that basement?”

I bit my lip. I couldn’t exactly tell her that the imprint of his body in my bedsheets is how I can tell he slept there.

“He, uhhh… I mean, I know he comes up because Botticelli is always scratching at my door in the morning. He’s usually locked up in your dad’s room at night,” I bullshitted. Hannah frowned, taking in my words, but then she nodded once as if accepting my lie.

“Okay…” she trailed off. “Sorry, I mean I know you’re not here to care for him or anything, but I just worry.”

I nodded at her, taking a sip of my drink.

“I know you do. Trust me, he does too.”

Hannah gave me an odd look but she couldn’t ask me to elaborate further because Flynn came walking out to the patio with the lasagna in hand. He took a seat down beside me, setting the food down in front of us all.

Hannah gave her father a big smile and then got to work serving food. We all ate in comfortable silence for a while.

I was enjoying the meal, the lasagna was good but the salad was better. Plus, the silence gave me the time to think over what the hell Hannah had walked in on before. I had to cross one leg over the other when I felt a flush of arousal make my stomach clench at the memory of his eyes on mine.

Flynn saw my movement and from the corner of my eye, I watched his head tip towards mine for a moment. I ignored him and he looked back away. Thankfully, Hannah didn’t notice, but I knew that Flynn sure as hell knew why I was so fidgety.

He’d just _had_ to sit so close to me. I shook my head to myself as I ate, trying to ignore the keen sting of my attraction to him.

“So, I think I might have found an apartment,” Hannah piped up. I looked up from my plate at her with a frown.

“I thought you and Noah already had a house?” I asked. “Why go back to an apartment?”

Hannah grinned, shaking her head. “Oh no, not for us,” she grinned. “For you.”

I froze in my seat, my food still on my fork as I considered her words.

“For me?” I clarified, my voice low. I could feel that Flynn had tensed up beside me, too.

Hannah grinned, nodding. “Yeah. I did the math with how much you should be earning for minimum wage at your job,” she said. “You’d be able to afford this place by now, too. It’s close to where you work and it’s not in a shitty neighborhood, which was surprising considering the price of the place. You interested?”

I bit my lip, refusing to turn my head to glance at Flynn. I could already kind of feel his eyes on me anyway, as inquisitorial as his daughter. Like they were both on the edge of their seats for my answer.

“I… uhh… Um, sure?” I finally settled. I bit my lip at the hopeful smile on Hannah’s face. I appreciated her effort, sure. I mean, she didn’t have to go to the effort to find a place for me in the first place, but I was conflicted.

I know I’d said I should live somewhere else so that I wouldn’t have to feel guilty and need to pay back the Forbes family. But… that look that Flynn had given me before had tied me up in knots. I had me rooted in place, but wanting to run away all at the same time.

That look had been serious and indecipherable. He was still as closed off as when I’d first started living in that house. But that had only made me all the more determined… hadn’t it?

I sent Hannah a half smile, trying to hide my disappointment and confusion. To her, I had no reason to say no to this apartment, so I felt almost _had_ to take it. Like I was obliged to. Especially after she’d gone to all this effort to find it for me.

I felt Flynn let out a long breath beside me at my response and he went back to eating in silence. I didn’t know how to take that.

_Maybe he did want me gone…_

“Really?” Hannah grinned. “Oh that’s so great! You’re gonna love it! It’s got these cute little windows that open outward and a clawfoot tub, and the bedroom is so cute. Honestly, if I was single, I’d put an offer in.”

I gave her a smile, nodding.

“Great, well maybe you can take me to see it after a shift sometime this week,” I said, trying to keep the meek tone from my voice. Hannah grinned, nodding. She went off telling us about the other features she loved about the apartment but I wasn’t really paying attention.

I looked down at my lap for a moment, fiddling my fingers. My gaze cast sideways for a moment, watching Flynn clench and unclench his fist as his daughter kept speaking.

Biting my lip, I found the courage to glance at his face. His jaw was clenched, ticking. He’d abandoned his lunch and was instead just pushing the food around his plate.

With a sigh, I tore my eyes away and looked back at Hannah’s hopeful glance, praying she hadn’t noticed our little interaction. Thankfully, my friend was as oblivious as ever.

“Sounds great, Han,” I offered. My friend smiled at me kindly, nodding.

“I know, right? Oh, also,” she went on, turning to Flynn. “You know how every holidays we always go up to Big Bear with the family?”

I watched as Flynn slowly unclenched his jaw and nodded at his daughter. He had an eyebrow raised at her in question. I wasn’t averse to the Big Bear weekend. I had been invited on my fair share of them, normally just to give Hannah someone to talk to because all of her extended family were quite proper and hard to be around.

“Well, Noah and I managed to rent the house out in about a month,” Hannah smiled. “We’ve got it for about a week and were thinking that we could have our engagement party up there.”

My eyebrow rose in surprise.

“I thought you guys already had an engagement party?” I asked. Hannah grinned.

“Okay, well I mean, yeah. That probably wasn’t the right thing to call it,” she chuckled. “We were more going to invite the bridal party. You know, groomsmen, bridesmaids and the like.”

“Oh,” I said. Hannah grinned.

“Yeah, and I want you both to come,” she smiled. “It’ll just be a really nice time for us to all get to know each other because Kingi I know you haven’t met any of my other girls or any of Noah’s friends…”

I gave my friend a smile. “Yeah, it sounds fun,” I said. “I’ll see if I can manage the time off work.”

Hannah gave me a big grin, obviously pleased with my response. Then she turned to Flynn.

“Dad?” she asked. He looked up from his plate with a raised eyebrow. “I’d really want you there, too…” she trailed off, looking hopefully at her father. “I mean, Noah’s parents will be there too, and I think it’d be really good for you to meet them…”

I bit my lip, glancing Flynn’s way. His expression didn’t give anything away. His mouth was set in a hard line and his eyes looked flat. There was none of the intensity in those golden orbs he’d shown me just an hour before.

“Hannah, you know I have to work,” he said, his voice low, dejected. I watched as my friend deflated slightly. I frowned at Flynn.

Hannah was right here, asking her father to be a part of his life and he was turning her down. He wasn’t showing any of what he’d told me over the last few weeks of how much he loved his daughter.

Hannah had no idea how he felt, and never would if he didn’t buck up and commit to something for her. I pursed my lips, already set on what I was going to do.

“I think it’d be great for you to go,” I said confidently. Flynn’s gaze snapped to mine with a glare but I wasn’t taking his shit. I smirked slightly. “I mean, Noah’s parents really sound like they want to meet you. Plus, Hannah’s told me that you’re a whiz at charades and if we’re all going to be stuck in a cabin while it snows, I want someone on my team for games to win.”

Flynn’s glare deepened but I wasn’t having any of it. I looked over at Hannah with a grin and she was sending me a slightly thankful look.

“Right, Han?” I asked.

Hannah nodded enthusiastically at her father. “Oh, Dad, come on you’ll love it. You need to get away from work for a few days and who knows, maybe the trip will give you some awesome inspiration for your new piece…”

She was sending him the doe eyes as he glared at the two of us. It was obvious he didn’t like being ganged up on. I saw the moment he decided to give in. The look bloomed in his eyes like a flower and I watched him exhale.

“Three days,” he said begrudgingly. “That’s all you get.”

Hannah squealed, clapping her hands excitedly at his admission to go. I smiled softly, happy to give Hannah what she wanted and slightly impressed with myself that I’d been able to sway his decision.

Flynn turned his head and sent me a steely look that made me immediately cease my inward celebration. Hannah was still gushing to herself, excited about food arrangements and whatever else but I wasn’t paying attention.

Instead, I was trying to control my untimely attraction to her father as he sent me a look that told me I’d pay for what I’d done, later. The promise in his eyes made me feel dirty, but sexy as hell.

I had to let out a slow exhale to try and control myself.

Flynn didn’t say anything else, just stood, gathered his things and retreated inside the house like a puppy with his tail between his legs.

Hannah rolled her eyes at his behavior but then shrugged at me with a grin.

“Small victories,” she said. “Thanks for that, though. I really appreciate it.”

I smiled. “No problem, Han. He was being a big baby, besides its all for your big day anyway so he should suck it up and do whatever you ask.”

Hannah giggled. “Seems to me like he’ll do whatever _you_ ask.”

My eyes widened as I looked, shocked, over at my best friend.

“What do you mean?” I asked, my voice small. She couldn’t possibly know, could she? Hannah chuckled, shrugging me off.

“No, nothing,” she smiled. “I guess it’s just good that you’ve been staying here. It’s forced him to change a little bit and I don’t know…” she mused. “He seems different. Not in a bad way, just in kind of like a way that tells me you’ve gotten through to him.”

I gave her an odd look, still not quite sure what she was getting at.

“I mean, well, like, you’ve been forcing him to eat, right?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at me. I gave her a meek smile, shrugging my shoulders slightly. “Either way, I think he knows why I sent you here in the first place and even just that has made him change his attitude, even if you guys haven’t really spoken.”

I bit my lip, simply nodding and deciding not to correct her. So, she still didn’t know the real reason I could get through to him – though to be fair, neither did I – she just thought that my being here, and our awkward encounters, had forced him to change.

I’d let her go on believing that if it meant I could keep my secret a little longer.

I clenched my thighs together as I sipped my champagne. We talked about meaningless things for the next hour or so as the remainder of our uneaten food got cold.

Then Hannah had to be getting home. She got a text from her work that wanted her to work the night shift. I smiled and walked her to the door. I was glad to have had the afternoon with my friend, despite her visit being a surprise.

Hannah ordered an Uber to come and get her, seeing as we’d had quite a few glasses of champagne with lunch. I waited with her until it arrived and then waved her off when she was driving out of the driveway.

I shut the front door behind me and turned around, only to be shocked at coming face to face with a stony eyed Flynn Forbes.

He didn’t say anything, just closed the gap between us with a determined look on his face.

“Flynn, I–”

He cut me off by pressing his lips harshly to mine as my back was pressed up against the front door. I gasped into his lips but then my hands were in his hair, holding him closer as his tongue ravaged the seam of my lips.

I let him in and suddenly the force of his tongue against mine was making my clit throb with need.

I moaned against him.

I knew it was wrong to want him this way, especially with him being so aggressive but I couldn’t find a fuck to give. I knew he was angry because I’d stood up to him at lunch, and this was his way to pay me back but that’s where he fucked up.

The slow sex he’d been giving me had been great, but I was a dirty girl who liked it _rough_.

And he would find that out soon enough…

I groaned into him as he picked up my thighs, making me wrap them around his waist. I did as he wanted, grinding my sex into him as I did it. This angle was amazing. It let me feel the rough grind of his cock on my sex. Gone were the teasing, controlled movements of his normal style.

This was different. He was mad. And I was rejoicing in it.

My head could feel the throbbing in my skull as his mouth was hard against mine. The force of his kiss was pushing my head into the door with bruising strength, but it made my pussy sing.

I craved this. I craved the hard, raw emotions that came with sex. I wanted this from him.

I had wanted him to let go of his inhibitions for weeks because I _knew_ that there was something calling out to me underneath. He’d been able to keep this side of him hidden from me so far, but the sex kitten inside me was purring now.

He had finally snapped, and I didn’t care.

Flynn groaned into me, pressing his erection hard into my core and making me mewl into him. I dragged my hands down his front, tearing buttons off his shirt and pushing it over his shoulders, begging him to let his skin against mine.

All of the teasing from the past month and a half, all of the yearning over lunch today, the stolen glances and clenched thighs – they were all coming to fruition. He was giving me the physical embodiment of the look in his eyes when I cut his hair.

And I was drowning in it. I didn’t care what form it took as long as he used it to his advantage.

His hands came off my body only to rip his shirt from his body. My fingers made quick work of his slacks while my lips stayed glued to his. He got the memo and ripped my own shirt clean in half off my chest.

I couldn’t find it in me to complain, even when he did the same thing to my bra.

I flung them to the floor, not caring where they landed or who might see them. I unwrapped my legs from his waist, pulling his face down with me as I shucked my jean shorts from my ass. He ripped my thong off, making me his at the sting of it.

But then his lips were tearing from mine as he spun me around. I didn’t even have the chance to palm his cock before my hands were against the wall. He spread my legs easily with his foot and I willingly opened myself to him.

Not two seconds of warning before I felt him slamming up inside me. My eyes squeezed shut and my head fell back as he used me like I’d been begging him to use me for weeks.

I moaned long and breathily as I felt him hit bottom inside me.

My legs were going to give way, though. I didn’t have much strength left in me. And he knew it too. I could feel my hands slipping down the wall, and Flynn guided me to my knees, giving me enough space to lie on my stomach.

My peaked tits pressed against the cool floor as he slammed into me from behind, his hands holding me at my hips as he pistoned in and out of me.

I moaned into the floor, liking how it sounded to have it echo through the house.

My ass was raised into the air, held up mostly by the momentum of his thrusts. With each pound of his cock, it was as if I lost more of my energy. Maybe he thought I’d fight back, but that wasn’t me. I had no reason or will to fight back because this is what I wanted.

This was the kind of sex that I craved.

The thing I wasn’t expecting was when his hand cracked across my asscheek with a loud slap, making me jolt.

“Yes!” I hissed out, moaning afterward when his hand massaged into my skin. He kept going, spanking me until I was hollering.

My inner channel felt slick, more aroused than I’d ever been and I wasn’t about to stop.

“Flynn, please!” I begged, wanting more. More of anything he was willing to give to me. I needed this. Sometimes you just did.

I needed him to use me. I needed him to set my body on fire like he was right in that moment.

My eyes flew open and my back arched when I felt something brush against my back hole. Subconsciously, I ground back towards it, though in reality it was probably just the movement of Flynn’s hand as he spanked me.

But that didn’t change the fact that my body wanted it. My body wanted something I’d never tried, and Flynn seemed to realize, because suddenly I felt his thumb pressing at my starfish.

My puckered hole pulsed against his digit and I moaned, grinding against him as he kept fucking me.

My eyes were beginning to roll into the back of my head and I could feel it coming. I could feel it, could sense it like birds could sense an earthquake. My body shuddered when finally my ass gave way and his thumb sunk inside my virgin hole.

I let out a long, throaty moan as I could clench his thumb with my ass muscles. I felt so incredibly full, and yet…

He let out a low grunt at the feeling as I bowed forward into the floor.

“ _Yes, daddy. More…”_ I moaned into the floor, pushing back on his thumb and his cock. It wasn’t enough. I needed more. More…

It was only when he started to thrust both at the same time that the bloom of my climax crested and I threw my head back in a hard and fast scream as it exploded within me.

I could feel myself clenching him everywhere. His grip on my hip was tight and bruising, holding me and forcing me to hold practically still as I creamed all over his hard cock.

He didn’t stop his thrusts though. My tits dragged against the cool floor with each push and he grunted before he came inside me. I could feel him reach my fucking chest.

My stomach felt like it was protruding from the amount of his cum spilling inside me. I screamed when his fingers found my clit and pinched _hard._ It sent me into a dizzying spiral as my eyes rolled backwards in my head.

I was shuddering and convulsing over the triple stimulation as my kitty gave way and I unwittingly sprayed across the floor and all over Flynn’s cock. He grunted into me, his pace slowing up as he let me enjoy my squirting.

I hadn’t known I could do that before him.

And I hadn’t known I could enjoy ass play before now.

My body felt on fire and so damn sensitive at the same time that I practically slumped when he pulled out of me slowly. His thumb abandoned my ass and I couldn’t do anything but melt into the floor.

Flynn lay down on his back on the floor beside me. Meekly, I rolled my head to the side to stare at him with my own personal definition of the ‘heart eyes’ emoji, only mine was due to the intense orgasms he’d just gifted me.

His loss of control was the sexiest thing I’d ever encountered.

I wanted more.

But Flynn looked torn as he wore a wounded grimace. With a frown, I managed to weakly lift one hand upwards to trace his lips. His eyes flicked towards mine and I was let in on his world of hurt.

“Kingsley… I’m so sorry,” he muttered, his voice pained. “I shouldn’t have done that, and I can’t tell you how sorry I am.” I grimaced. He was an idiot if he thought I didn’t enjoy that. An even bigger idiot if he didn’t realize I’d wanted it from the beginning.

I caressed his lips, shaking my head weakly. With a groan, he extended his arms and pulled me towards him, on top of him. I managed to moan when his semi rubbed against my sensitive clit but his hand was cupping my jaw.

He was brushing my hair out of my eyes as I stared tiredly down at him.

 _“I’m sorry,”_ he repeated silently, nothing more than a breathed whisper. I shook my head again and leant forward, capturing his lips with mine.

He groaned in protest but I ignored him, letting my tongue into his mouth to show him just how appreciative I was of him.

When I leant away, our foreheads were pressed together. I breathed out long and hard before opening my eyes.

“Thank you,” I managed to say, my voice hoarse from screaming. Flynn gave me a wounded look, shaking his head. I grimaced but pressed a finger to his lips before he could ignore my gratitude.

I shook my head at him.

“Shut up,” I groaned. “Can’t you see how satisfied I am?”

Flynn sighed, his hand caressing my hair.

“How could you be? I took my anger out on you and I should never have done that. I lost control and I took advantage of y–”

I pressed my lips to his to shut him up. He moaned against me. When I leant away, I gave him as stern a look as I could for someone about to pass out.

“You didn’t take advantage of _shit,_ Flynn,” I whispered. “If I didn’t want that, I would’ve pushed you away…”

Flynn gave me a concerned look but I shook my head again.

“And I can’t think of anything sexier than you losing a bit of that everlasting control,” I whispered, teasing him with a meek smile. Flynn’s eyes widened as he comprehended my words.

I pecked his lips once before managing to find the strength to move off him. I stood up and began to walk away. I wasn’t going to stick around only for him to ruin the best sex we’d had by opening his mouth. I wanted it to remain as sacred as I thought it was.

I shivered as I walked, only looking over my shoulders once to see him rubbing his hands over his eyes, his naked body still splayed out sexily in the front foyer.

I blushed at seeing the puddle of my cum on the floor but ignored it. I would clean it up later. Right now I needed a shower and a nap.

I shuddered as I climbed the stairs, the feel of my pussy lips brushing against my thighs making me tingle all over. If I wasn’t careful, I’d cum from the tiniest stimulation.

It wasn’t until I was showered and lying in bed that my eyes flew open at the memory of what we’d done. My cheeks flamed furiously.

Holy shit, _what did I call him?_ Please tell me he didn’t hear that…

.

**Lucky for you, I got all these daddy issues**


	10. Nine: In Which She Feels Fireworks

**NINE: In Which She Feels Fireworks**

**Kingsley**

I rolled over in my bed towards the lamp on the side table with a sigh. I put the book I’d been reading there as I reached for the lamp switch. It was a ‘Handy Helpful Hints’ book or some shit that had to do with managing a business. Someone had left it lying around at work, and I’d been extremely offended at the thought of one of my employees leaving it strategically for me to find.

I hadn’t thought I’d been doing a bad job necessarily at managing Aunt B’s, but I’d still taken the book to read in case it really could give me any help to improve. I wasn’t averse to criticism, I just wished whoever thought I was shit at my job had the balls to actually come and tell me face to face.

I was willing to change how I did things but how was I supposed to know what I was currently doing wasn’t working unless someone told me so? The whole situation was embarrassing, but the sneakiness of leaving the book for me to find had me fuming.

It was just so damn passive aggressive.

And bitchy.

With a sigh, I turned off the light and slumped in my bed. It had been hours since that fateful lunch with Flynn and Hannah, and as I looked at the digital clock on the side table in the dark, I frowned at the little red blinking numbers that told me it was way too early in the morning for me to still even be awake.

But, it was like I couldn’t sleep though.

Which was why I sat in the dark, just letting my mind race as I lost track of time.

I visibly jumped two feet in the air when my door swung open. I gave a squeak of surprise as I looked up at the tall figure standing in my doorway.

I reached over and flipped on my light, before sending Flynn a long look. I hadn’t expected for him to come and talk to me, at least not within the same twenty-four hour window as what had conspired between us in the front entry hall.

He rose an eyebrow at me as his arms crossed over his chest.

“Were you just sitting in the dark?” he asked, the hint of a smirk playing about his lips. I bit my lip, shrugging.

“Couldn’t sleep,” I mumbled. I watched Flynn huff slightly and I realized he was chuckling. He gave a look that I couldn’t really decipher.

It was a mean look, just more of a dumbfounded one. One that said ‘how?’ with general undertones of confusion. But his look also said ‘typical’. I wasn’t really sure what to make of it.

I shrugged once.

“So, what’s up?” I asked. I didn’t really feel like a booty call right now.

Flynn looked at me but didn’t say anything. I watched him frown, his arms tensing in their crossed position over his chest before he leant against the wall – well, slumped was more like it.

I rose an eyebrow at him when he seemed to stare off into space.

“Flynn…?” I said, my voice low. He seemed to break out of it.

“Oh, right, uhmm…” he trailed off. He moved to rub a hand at the back of his neck as I watched him, crossing my own arms over my chest. He looked like a nervous teenager waiting to ask a girl to Prom. I wanted to laugh, but I didn’t.

“I was, uhhh…” he started. “Well, I wanted to apologize again…”

I frowned. _He couldn’t still be talking about in the foyer, could he?_

“I thought I told you I didn’t want you to apologize for that,” I said firmly. Flynn grimaced but nodded once.

“I know…, but I can’t help it,” he said, his voice low, almost submissive. “That really wasn’t like me. I mean… I don’t do that.”

He seemed to drift off again, leaning against the door as he looked at the floor. I rolled my eyes.

“Okay,” I said. “Well, is that all you came in here to say at… two-thirty in the morning?” I asked, checking the clock and raising an eyebrow at him.

“No, I–” Flynn sighed and took a step closer to me, pushing off the wall.

He seemed to think better of that decision and stopped a few feet short of the bed. He ran a hand through his hair again.

“I just came because… Well, I guess I wanted to try something,” he said, his voice low. My eyebrow raised. I couldn’t help the way my nipples hardened beneath my thin cotton shirt. If he lifted his gaze from the floor, he’d see what he was doing to my body.

Just at the tone of his voice I was getting turned on.

God, I was pathetic.

“I was wondering if… well, if you’d maybe agree to my taking you to dinner…?”

My eyes widened and I couldn’t help the way my jaw dropped. That was the last thing I was expecting to say. I watched Flynn look up at me delicately, his long lashes that I was completely jealous of, batting my way slowly, unsurely.

His eyebrows furrowed and his hands were clenched at his sides.

He wanted to go out with me? As in, take me on a real date?

I managed to find my voice. “You want to… I mean you…, you… _what_?”

Flynn frowned, biting his lip. “I mean, not if you don’t want to. I just thought I should make up for–”

I cut him off by holding up a finger. He shut up quickly.

“You want to take me on a date?” I asked, my voice soft as I clarified my confusion. Flynn had the audacity to blush, rubbing his hand at the back of his neck as he shuffled on his feet. He nodded once.

The man didn’t realize what he was doing to me.

And I hadn’t seen any of this coming. “Like… outside of this house?” I clarified. Flynn visibly grimaced but then he nodded. The butterflies in my stomach erupted at his admission. I didn’t really know how to take this.

I was extremely flattered, but the invitation also made me increasingly nervous. I didn’t know where this made us stand. He would be voluntarily leaving his house… with me – _for me_ …

Just to make up for what he thought he’d done wrong today and was feeling guilty for but that I had already expressed that I liked?

I didn’t think I’d ever really understand this man.

Flynn’s sudden shuffling on his feet brought me back out of my inward spiral. My tongue felt thick as I looked up at him. I recognized this feeling – nervous fear and excitement all in one. Not to mention, unbelievable attraction to the man standing in front of me.

The same man who was wearing the exact expression of insecurity.

He was two seconds away from unwittingly making baby seal eyes at me that would make me melt into him.

“I… uh…” I managed to make some kind of noise. “Uhm… _yes_ , of course,” I said, giving him a small smile. Flynn stared into my eyes at my admission, his eyebrow raising as if he suspected a different answer.

I didn’t know how he could have.

I didn’t know where this would put us, or what this would make us, but I couldn’t deny the way I was beginning to feel for him. Whether he realized it or not, asking me on a date wasn’t going to make me stop liking him.

The romantic inside me was rejoicing that this could be his way of giving in to how he felt about me, too, and that made me giddy because I could no longer count the amount of times I’d wished this ‘thing’ we had between us could become something a little realer. But the realist inside me was squashing the romantic’s hopes and dreams. The realist was a buzzkill if I ever saw one.

She reminded me with a keen sting that he was just doing this because he felt guilty for this afternoon. It was nothing more than that.

 _Yeah, but he’s leaving the house for you_ , the romantic reminded me. I bit my lip, ignoring the two of them and instead just basking in the knowledge that Flynn had actually asked me out and I’d said yes.

I could think about the details of what that meant at a much, much later date.

“Okay,” Flynn managed to say, his neck growing red with embarrassment as he looked at anything but me. Somehow, it made me blush, too, and I pulled the covers all the way up to my neck as I looked up at him.

Flynn gave me a sharp nod. “Okay, uhmm… tomorrow night?” he asked.

I smiled shyly. “Sure… I’ll see if I can get off work early,” I agreed. Flynn nodded before he sharply turned tail and walked from the room.

I stared at the closed door behind him for a while after, trying to wrap my head around what the fuck had just happened.

I didn’t really know what to make of it. And I sure as hell didn’t know what it made us.

For now, though, I needed to focus on getting to sleep so that I wasn’t looking like a zombie on our date. As I turned off my lamp and lay down in the bed, I allowed myself a moment to swoon because, _holy shit!_ _I was going on a date with Flynn freaking Forbes!_

.

I ripped off my apron, shoving it into my locker and pulling on a sweater – sue me, it was starting to get chilly – as I tried to hurriedly get away from work. I was already so late.

I would barely have enough time to shower if I couldn’t get a ride home in the next two minutes. I quickly slung the strap of my bag over my shoulder as I walked back through the building.

I was usually the one to lock up at night, now that the owner of the building trusted me to. The bakers opened up in the early hours of the morning so I at least didn’t have to worry about that.

I turned off all the lights in the shop, and the kitchen as I walked through to the front door. The owner had already come by earlier to get the cash from the till so that people weren’t inclined to break in overnight.

I flipped the sign on the front door to ‘closed’ and turned off the flashing neon sign in the window. Then I let it close behind me, turning the key in the lock.

With a sigh, I shoved it in my bag, bringing out my phone and opening the Uber app.

“Shit, I’m so fucking late,” I groaned to myself.

“Not really,” I heard a voice chime.

My head whipped up at the sound of it as I turned around quickly. I wasn’t used to people talking near me this late in the evening, in this dark. My eyes widened when they settled on Flynn in the dim glow of the streetlight. He was dressed in a simple jeans and sweater – albeit, and expensive looking one.

I was more than shocked to see him standing there, leaning on a sleek black car with his arms crossed across his chest.

“Oh,” I said, “Hi.”

Flynn chuckled, his eyes looking over me once. “Hi,” he said, giving me that almost smile, his eyes light. I frowned at him.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, turning off my phone. Flynn seemed to falter for a moment, his brows furrowing. I was shocked to see him out of the house, it was a little surreal.

“I thought we agreed on dinner tonight…?” he said. I gave him a smile.

“Oh, well sure… I just thought– nevermind,” I said, waving it off. I took a step closer to him and he pushed himself off the car, opening the passenger door for me like a gentleman.

“I figured we could go straight from here,” he said as I sat down in the seat.

“Oh, we’re not going back home first?”

Flynn shook his head.

“Is that a problem?”

I shook my head quickly. “No, not at all. I just figured I’d shower first and get into some other clothes…”

Flynn shrugged. “What you’re wearing is fine for what we’ll be doing.” He didn’t leave me room to answer as he shut my door. I watched through the windscreen with a frown as he made his way around the car to the driver’s seat.

The car was filled with that same apple scent that seemed to follow him everywhere.

Discreetly, I sniffed at my armpit to make sure I was decent – though, I’d put on some extra deodorant before leaving work to not offend my Uber driver, so I assumed I was fine. I cupped my hand over my mouth, breathing out once before taking a quick whiff.

The coast was clear. This would have to do. I guess I hadn’t expected to be going on my first date with Flynn in my work clothes but it seemed I didn’t have much choice.

He slid easily into his seat and gave me a quick look.

“If you’re uncomfortable in what you’re wearing, I have some clean clothes in the trunk,” he said. “Though, fair warning, they’ve been back there a while.”

I bit my lip but put my eyes forward, nodding.

“Great, that’ll work… thanks.”

Flynn just nodded before he then pulled us off the curb. His car was quiet, letting off the kind of low hum or purr that made me immediately think it was super expensive. I wouldn’t have been surprised, especially since the first car he’d bought Hannah had practically been designer.

I shook my head to get thoughts of my friend out. I didn’t want to think about her because it always led to feeling guilty about the time I spent with Flynn. And right now, I just wanted to enjoy this little date.

Soft classical music with no lyrics floated through the speakers at a low volume, enough to be distracted by but not enough to feel overwhelmed. We sat in easy silence as he drove us on a route through the city I’d never taken.

I knew we were heading back in the general direction of his house, but then we took a turn I didn’t recognize. After a little while, we ended up at a small makeshift empty parking lot at the edge of a remote beach.

It was actually kind of beautiful.

Flynn turned off the car and turned to me. “Is this okay?” he asked.

I gave him a small shy smile. This was very okay with me. When he’d asked me to come on a date with him, I had been confused because I wasn’t sure how he would handle being in public. I was worried that dinner would become awkward in that situation, but this…

This was kind of perfect.

“This is great,” I nodded. Flynn exhaled, nodding once as if he’d been nervous I wouldn’t like it. I don’t know how I couldn’t have. Under the moonlight, all things considered, it was pretty spectacular.

We opened our doors and got out of the car. Flynn opened the trunk and got out a basket. I was so close to swooning that I was afraid I’d combust. He’d packed us a picnic; that was the most adorable thing anyone had ever done for me.

He put the basket down and reached into another bag. He pulled a clean t-shirt from it and held it out for me. Gratefully, I took it from him. I started removing my sweater, and then my shirt, leaving me in just a bralette. I had nothing to hide, especially since he’d seen it all before.

Still, that didn’t stop me from noticing he’d averted his eyes with a small blush at the base of his neck. _Why did that turn me on?_ Just because he was kind of being a gentleman?

My skin started dotting with goosebumps in the cold. Hurriedly, I tugged on his clean t-shirt, letting his apple scent wash over me. Then I put my sweater back on to avoid that Fall chill.

I cleared my throat quietly, my hand tugging through my hair to loosen it, and to signal that I was decent. His lip quirked up slightly when I looked at me, making me smile.

I watched his irises dilate a little at seeing my hair down. That was a confidence booster. Plus, it probably didn’t hurt that I was wearing his clothes. I remembered Hannah telling me once that guys liked nothing more than seeing a girl in their clothes – something about the animalistic possessive side of them, even if they were a mild mannered person.

Something about it being a natural reaction – biology – it was a primal thing. Either way, my skin heated with the way he looked at me. I liked that look.

He tilted his head, motioning for me to follow him as he started walking towards the beach with his little picnic. I followed. When we made it onto the sand, I kicked off my shoes, liking the way the cool sand felt between my toes.

We walked a little ways down the beach, away from the car but not close to the shoreline. We stayed near the bank, and when Flynn found a spot that he figured he liked, he stopped.

There were another group of people a little further down the beach, sitting around a homemade beach bonfire. A group of about four or five of what looked like college kids.

I turned back to Flynn who was pulling out a blanket from his basket. I helped him lay it out before sitting down and watching him put a few little electric tea light candles around for a bit of light.

I couldn’t help but blush, thanking the dim lighting that he wouldn’t be able to see it properly. This was very romantic, the most romantic thing we’d done this far.

It was nice to see this new side of him. It made my heart clench in a way I didn’t know it could.

“How’d you find this place?” I asked when he finally sat down. He looked up from the basket where he’d been pulling two glasses and a wine bottle from.

He watched me for a moment, regarding my wide curious eyes before he answered. On any other guy, I would’ve found the long looks he gave me kind of creepy. But, there was something captivating about the way Flynn did it. Like he was a dog curiously tilting his head as he tried to figure me out.

I liked it. It was different.

“Oh, uhmm, this beach is sort of generally known by the people who live around here. It’s closed off from any other access besides this community, so I guess it kind of acts like a private beach,” he admitted. I rose an eyebrow in surprise as he handed me a glass of red wine.

“Oh, so you mean that all the old rich people in this gated community have private access to this beautiful beach?” I asked. “How could they be so lucky?” I teased. Flynn huffed out a chuckle as he watched me sip from my glass.

“Good?” he asked. I made a noise of agreement, nodding.

“Yes, thankyou.”

I couldn’t help but shiver slightly in the breeze. Though, if I was honest, it was also kind of because of his gaze on me. There was something about the way he looked at me that made me squirm to try and clench my arousal.

“Are you cold?” he asked, his voice low. I smiled, shrugging like I couldn’t help it. Flynn chuckled but then got out two more blankets from his basket. He handed one to me and I gave him a grateful smile before wrapping myself in it. It was extremely cozy and I couldn’t help the satisfied grin on my face as I got more comfortable.

Before I could say anything, my attention was grabbed by the college kids as two of the guys started hollering and whooping as they tore off shirts to go diving into the ocean.

I chuckled to myself as I watched them, listening to their girlfriends laugh and cheer for them.

When I turned back to Flynn, he was watching me with a warm look. My stomach rumbled when I noticed he was holding two things in his hands, wrapped in tin foil.

His lip quirked as he held one out to me.

“Thank you,” I smiled. “What lovely meal have you prepared for us, tonight?”

Flynn gave me a look. “Homemade Philly Cheesesteaks.”

My eyes widened as I grinned.

“Really? I’ve never tried one,” I said, not able to hide the excitement in my voice. Flynn chuckled lowly.

“I didn’t think you had. My grandfather grew up in Philadelphia so this is an old family recipe.”

My heart warmed. The fact that he had put so much effort into this for me, where any other guy could have just taken me out and paid for a meal, well, that spoke volumes.

“You made these yourself?”

Flynn’s gaze dropped from mine and I grinned. He could be shy all he wanted but I was extremely grateful.

“Well, I hope you know I’m a harsh critic,” I joked. Flynn shrugged.

“You seemed to like lunch the other day well enough…”

My eyes widened. “You made those meals?” I asked. Flynn just looked at me.

“Who did you think made them?”

I chuckled to myself, shrugging. “I guess, I don’t know,” I laughed lowly. Flynn gave me a small grin before opening his cheesesteak and taking a bite. It smelt heavenly so I did the same.

I had to stop myself from moaning in satisfaction at the taste. It probably didn’t help that I was starved from having barely eaten anything all day, but Flynn was a damn good cook.

“This is amazing,” I said, managing to swallow my bite – barely – before I spoke. Flynn chuckled before he leant back, making himself comfortable to eat his meal.

“Thankyou. I’m glad you like it.”

“So, your grandfather was from Philly?” I asked. He had made an opening for me to get to know him and he could be damned if he thought I wasn’t jumping at that opportunity.

Flynn nodded. “Yes. Not much of a story there, though…”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, like I’d believe that,” I grinned. “Come on, just tell me a little something. Talking about your family is what people do when they eat dinner together,” I baited.

Flynn swallowed his bite and gave me a look before sighing and giving in. “Fine,” he said. “What would you like to know?”

I resisted the urge to squeal that he was letting me in a little more. I decided to start off slow.

“Well, what did he do for a living?”

“He worked in a canning factory. He fell in love with the boss’s daughter, married her and they moved to California for her to become a singer.”

I smiled. “Really? Interesting. Would I know any of her work?”

Flynn shook his head. “No, she worked in theatre companies as an understudy.”

“Oh,” I said. “Well, at least now I know where you got a little bit of talent from.”

Flynn frowned. “What are you talking about? I can’t sing?”

I giggled. “No, I just meant your artistry. It’s nice to know it runs in the family.”

Flynn nodded for a moment. “So, what about your grandparents?”

I shook my head with a grin. “Nuh-uh, we’ll move onto me in a little bit, I want to know more about your history.”

Flynn rolled his eyes with a slight groan before sighing.

“Fine.”

I chuckled. “So, were these your Mom’s parents, or your Dad’s?”

Flynn seemed to tense up a little bit at the mention of his parents. “My mother’s,” he said, his voice a little lower. Shit. I had stumbled across the line he hadn’t crossed since I’d met him.

I didn’t want to discourage him from talking, but I didn’t want to push him too far, either.

“And… how did your parents meet?” I asked slowly, tentatively. Flynn gave me a look as if he knew I was purposely treading on eggshells. He sighed.

“They met in college. She was a Physics major and he was a Business major. He was the heir to a very successful accounting business and she had family money. Their pairing made a lot of sense,” he said. He was looking down at his food now, having abandoned it.

I bit my lip. I wanted to know more, but how far was pushing it?

“They’re still together?” I asked. Flynn nodded once, not looking at me. I wrinkled my nose but shrugged, I guess we could turn to me now. Take some of the heat off him. “I wish my parents were still together. At least then I could stand to be in the same room as them.”

Flynn looked up.

“Their divorce is that bad… still?”

I nodded. “That’s why I was away for so long. I just couldn’t stay with them anymore, not when neither of them refuses to move out. It’s like they’re both in love with the idea of fighting the other at every opportunity,” I sighed. “Mom says no, Dad says yes. Dad says no, Mom says yes. The bickering and the arguing never ends.”

I sighed, taking a bite of my dinner. Maybe with my mouth full, I could forget about all the heartache those two had caused me. If someone asked me to pinpoint the exact moment their marriage went sour – or even the reason for it in the first place – I wouldn’t have been able to give them an answer.

It was like they lived just to fight each other.

“Well, I’m glad you were able to part from them,” Flynn said, making me look into those tawny eyes. “For your own sake.”

I bit my lip, nodding.

Flynn quickly changed the subject, noting that I was no longer really _feeling_ this date. Guess we both had family issues.

“So, how’s the wedding planning going with Hannah?” he asked.

I chuckled, shrugging. “I don’t know, actually. To be honest, I’m kind of the world’s shittiest maid of honor,” I admitted. “Hannah hired a planner way before I got back so they’ve actually got most of the planning finished. We’re going to a boutique in a few weeks though to do her final dress fittings and to try on some bridesmaid dresses.”

“Knowing Hannah, you’ll need to take an entire day off for that.”

I laughed. “Yeah, probably. She still hasn’t even decided on a color for us. The last I heard, she was tossing up between gold and cream for our dresses. She wants them to be classy and sophisticated but still not be too close to, nor upstage her own dress,” I grinned. “Though, it’ll be a good chance for me to meet her other bridesmaids before her Big Bear week, you know?”

Flynn nodded.

“Sounds like she’s got everything under control, as usual,” he grinned. Then he got quiet, staring out at the sea like he was thinking of something really serious. I frowned. I moved to put my hand over his where it rested on the blanket. I wanted to break him out of whatever hole he’d dug himself out of nowhere.

It really looked like he was struggling with something.

Flynn looked up at me, his eyes molten as he watched me.

“Are you really considering that apartment that Hannah mentioned?” he asked. I didn’t dare try to dissect _that_ tone in his voice. I sighed, biting my lip.

“Yeah,” I said, though my voice sounded unsure. I gave him a shrug to cover it up. “I mean, I guess it’s probably time I got my own place. Plus, Hannah sent me photos today and if it really is the price that she said then it actually looks kind of perfect for me. It’s close to work and it’s affordable. The neighborhood isn’t _totally_ crappy… what?”

Flynn was staring at me, his eyes sort of hard and soft at the same time. He shook his head.

“No, nothing… I’m happy for you,” he said. I bit my lip as he looked out at the ocean. Something about this told me he wasn’t alright. Did he not want me to move out? He needed to give me a straight answer because I was fucking lost.

“I, uhhh…” he trailed off, looking back at me delicately. “I wanted to thank you.”

I frowned. My eyes unwittingly flipped down to his lips, then back up to his eyes again. “For what?”

Flynn paused. “For telling Hannah I’d go to the cabin,” he said.

My eyes widened. It was the last thing I’d expected him to say.

“I know that I can be a bit difficult when it comes to Hannah, but I do appreciate that you’ve promised her I’ll be there. Holds me accountable, you know?” he asked.

I smiled shyly up at him, through my eyelashes. I knew he had trouble expressing his affection towards his daughter. I was more than happy to make that happen… for Hannah’s sake.

“My appearance would feel otherwise odd, but I’m glad you’ve pushed me to attend,” he said. “Plus, it doesn’t hurt that you’ll be there…” he said, trailing off as he looked into my eyes. My stomach clenched at _that_ look. It was the look that often had me winding up in his bed… or his shower, or pool, or foyer, or literally any other part of his house because you never knew where you’d end up with him.

My heart warmed at his words, though. I was glad he wanted to spend time with me, and it made me feel a little giddy that he thought I might be his only sanction of refuge during that week at the cabin.

It made me feel important. Needed.

Which was why I leant forward, my hand in his hair as I pulled him towards me. I needed his lips on mine and he seemed to understand that.

We only pulled away when we heard the fireworks going off. The college kids down the beach were cheering as their colors lit up the sky, but I had a whole different kind of firework erupting inside me.

Flynn’s hands were hot on my skin as he pulled me closer to him until I was practically in his lap. His hands were underneath my shirt – _his shirt_ – and he looked up into my eyes as my knees straddled him.

I could see the colors of the fireworks bursting in the reflection of those tawny eyes. I couldn’t help it when I kissed him again. Slowly. Easily. Like the slow clap of the waves against the sand not fifteen yards from us.

In that moment, being with him could have been so easy…

.

**Oh lawddd this hit me in my ovaries**


	11. Ten: In Which She Learns To Count

**TEN: In Which She Learns To Count**

**Kingsley**

Turns out I wasn’t going to be paying Hannah back anytime soon.

I huffed as I made it to the top of the stairs at my new apartment. It was on the fifth floor. There was an elevator but I’d been told by the landlord that it was undergoing construction at the moment.

It had been about a week since my date with Flynn and he hadn’t been exactly distant since that night, but something was definitely weird between us.

We had ended up falling asleep on the beach, huddled under that blanket and the only reason I didn’t wake up shivering was due to the immense amount of body heat he dispersed.

But then he’d driven me home and I was able to shower in time to make it back to work that morning. The whole debacle had been so rushed that we didn’t really have any time to talk about our date, because I’d been in such a hurry to make it to work on time. And now, it was like we were stuck in that weird limbo that had me questioning the state of whatever kind of relationship we were in.

Which was why the car ride to my apartment had felt weird.

He still hadn’t expressed his opinion on my moving out, so I’d just gone ahead and done it. I didn’t know how else to skirt around the subject, because if he wanted me to stay with him, then he needed to say so.

I wasn’t going to wait around forever.

And now that I was opening the door to my new place, it only cemented the fact that I wouldn’t be living with him anymore. The anxiety over how this would change our relationship had been eating me up from the inside all week at work.

Distracting me long enough for Lisa to notice and constantly drag me out of my own thoughts.

The place – surprisingly – wasn’t empty. And this was why I’d never be able to repay Hannah. I only had a few bags worth of stuff, which was why I wasn’t even sure why Flynn had bothered to help me move in.

I literally could carry all my things in just one trip.

Hannah had gone ahead and rented whatever furniture wasn’t already supplied by the landlord. I was still seriously gob-smacked at how she’d managed to get the place at such a low price.

All the furnishings seemed brand new and shiny and expensive. Nothing like what you’d expect from the area.

I was glad for it though. Maybe it would make Flynn more comfortable with the thought of coming over. Did I want that? Was that what I hoped would happen between us?

We had never really discussed it. Or whether our arrangement only applied for when I was living under his roof. It had been convenient for the time being, so I didn’t know if my moving out cemented that fact within him and now he’d want nothing to do with me.

He was a busy guy, after all, and I didn’t know if him driving out of his way to come and see me was something that was really on his radar.

Like I said. He hadn’t told me what he wanted.

I was flying by the seat of my pants here.

“Do you like it?”

I turned around to see Flynn standing just behind me, his hands in his pockets and my last bag lying at his feet.

I gave him a smile.

“I do. Hannah did a good job picking out furniture. I guess she knew what I’d like,” I said. Flynn nodded but there was a look in his eye like there was something he wasn’t telling me.

I rose an eyebrow at him but decided to shake it off. I leant down and picked up the bag he’d carried in for me.

“You really didn’t have to come and help me, like, I could have managed,” I said as I turned and started walking towards the bedroom.

“It’s fine,” I heard him say, following me into the bedroom.

I threw him a look over my shoulder. “Not that I don’t appreciate it,” I smiled. He huffed out a chuckle as I threw the bag onto my new bed.

The apartment was a studio, but the one bedroom was extremely generous. It held a king bed, floor to ceiling integrated wardrobes on one wall, and a makeup table on one side that I’d probably never use. Then there was a door that led off to the bathroom.

The windows were huge. In the rest of the apartment there was the spacious open plan kitchen and living, an attached little balcony, and a window bench seat that I could sit and relax on.

I literally couldn’t have asked for something more perfect.

I walked back past Flynn, my arm brushing against the taut muscle of his abdomen as I made my way back to the kitchen. I began putting the few food items I’d brought into the refrigerator before they spoiled.

When I turned back around, Flynn was standing right behind me. I mean like, my nipples brushed against his shirt.

I was too stunned to say anything, especially when he raised his hand to draw a piece of hair out of my face. He tucked it behind my ear as our eyes locked. Those molten pools of gold were full of something I couldn’t recognize.

I couldn’t help biting my lip. And then I couldn’t help the words slipping through my lips.

“Now that you know the way here,” I said, my voice low so as not to break whatever tension was flowing between us. “Do you plan on coming back?” I asked.

I could see the nerve in his jaw tick as he clenched his teeth. His hand cupped my chin, tilting my head upwards a fraction more. My lips parted of their own accord. He looked delectable in this light. It was almost unfair.

“Do you want me to come back?” he asked, his voice just as low as mine. Guttural. Husky. _Hot._

My insides flushed at his tone. If he wasn’t careful, I’d be jumping his bones right here against this counter.

I could feel him against my stomach, growing with each passing glance between us. My breathing was shallow as I nodded.

“ _Please_ ,” I begged. I didn’t know what I was begging for. All I knew was Flynn’s lips as they descended on mine. My eyes fluttered closed and I felt his hands grip under my ass, pulling me up.

With a slight gasp, my legs wrapped around his waist before he turned as around and sat me on top of the counter. My hands were in his hair as his lips were all over mine.

His tongue was strong, exploring my mouth. I dug my heels into his ass to keep him close to me and he groaned into our kiss. I could feel him growing painfully hard against me, making me whimper.

My hands found his zipper and I tried to undo it hurriedly but Flynn pushed my hands away. With a gasp, our lips detached from each other and before I could protest, he was urging me to lie on my back.

I obliged and I felt him push my sundress up my thighs, exposing my thong beneath. My eyelids fluttered when his fingers ghosted across my pussy lips. I moaned in anticipation when he pushed my thong out of the way slightly, only for him to push his tongue flat against my folds.

I gasped, my thighs threatening to close on him, but he somehow kept them open.

My head threw back and my back arched as he pushed his tongue between my lips and sucked, _hard._ My hands were in his hair, holding his mouth on me as I grinded my pussy against him.

Flynn didn’t seem to have any trouble finding what he was looking for. He sucked hard on my clit, making me jolt as my body tipped slightly at the edge of my orgasm. Then his tongue was back on my pussy, thrusting in and out, making my chest rise and fall rapidly in trepidation of my release.

He groaned into me, making the vibrations go all the way up my body. I shivered beneath him when he found my clit again.

My climax hit me hard and fast, but that didn’t mean he let me let go of it quickly. I swear he held me at the crest of my orgasm for a full minute, making my body convulse at the precipice. I was a shivering blubbering mess by the time he finally let me go, calming me down with the slow, strong licks of his tongue as my body did the equivalent of blacking out.

My chest felt heavy but my body felt completely satisfied.

When Flynn helped me up, only for his lips to be back on mine, letting me taste myself, I was exhausted. I hadn’t known we were going to do this today. Hadn’t been prepared for it.

He was still hard as a rock against my now drenched pussy and I ground hard against him. He’d given me a fantastic orgasm, so I felt it only fair that I repay the favor.

His hand was in my hair at the back of my head, holding my lips against his as my hand found its way inside his pants. He groaned and tried to move away as I found his cock but I wouldn’t let him.

I clenched him in my palm, squeezing and stroking him as I kept his lips latched to mine.

He shuddered in my grip as I languidly pumped him in my fist. But then his hand came to my wrist, stopping me. His lips parted from mine as our foreheads touched.

“I have to go, baby,” he muttered, his voice low but full of something that told me he’d rather be with me than whatever pressing matter had him saying no to a handjob.

“Right now?” I demanded, breathless. He sighed, his eyes closed but he nodded his head against mine. I bit my lip but my hand left his pants. I wrapped it around his neck instead, pulling away slightly to look into those golden eyes.

“Will you be back?” I whispered, nervous for the answer. Flynn didn’t answer me with words, instead he pressed his lips to mine again.

It felt different this time. Slow and promising. His tongue was still just as strong against mine, but he was definitely not giving me his all. I’d seen it when he lost control, and this wasn’t it.

I sighed against him when he pulled away. He physically pulled himself from my body, his eyes on me as he fixed himself up, running a hand through his hair and smoothing out the creases in his pants. All while I laid on my countertop, my legs spread open and weeping for him.

He gave a wounded look with a groan as he turned for the door. My jaw dropped. _Was he seriously going to leave me here like this?_

He still hadn’t answered me. And didn’t. Instead, he just left my apartment, simultaneously leaving me alone and horny. I hoped that whatever pressing engagement he had to leave me for was worth it.

I’d cut his dick off if it wasn’t.

After a few moments of sitting in stunned silence, growing more and more uncomfortable in my current predicament, I finally found the strength to get down from my counter.

I made my way to my bathroom, deciding to shower for the day instead of just getting changed. I needed a moment to dissect what the hell had just gone on out there.

When I made it to my bedroom for a change of clothes, I began checking my drawers and my new wardrobe for some of the things I’d already managed to pack away earlier in the day.

My eyes widened when I came across a drawer that was already full, however was definitely not my clothing. I lifted a simple t-shirt from the pile, biting my lip.

A soft smile appeared on my lips when I recognized the faint apple scent. A small giggle resounded in my throat at the thought of what him leaving clothes here might mean.

With a blush, I pulled the shirt over my naked body, reveling in his scent as it made me feel closer to him.

He never had been one for words, so maybe _this_ was his answer…

.

Two weeks since moving into my apartment and Flynn had visited me a total of once. It was better than nothing, but it was still piss poor in my opinion. I had in those two weeks, visited him about four times.

Mostly because I was horny and confused about our status but I wanted to be around him. I missed him. Sue me.

But, I understood that it was going to be different between us now that we weren’t living under the same roof. I had to come to terms with the fact that we weren’t going to see each other every day. No matter how much I was finding that that bothered me.

And more than just in a this-was-convenient-and-I-need-a-good-dicking kind of way. It bothered me that I was constantly thinking about him at all hours of the day, enough for it to be affecting my work.

And I mean _constantly_. Wondering whether he’s thinking about me; worrying if he’s getting enough sleep or eating enough; curious as to if he misses having me around…

I lived with the man for almost two months, made myself a staple presence around the house, that wasn’t just something you forgot.

Plus I liked to think I was fairly good in the sack, so he had to be missing that too… a girl could only hope. With the reactions he had towards me in bed, it wasn’t a totally out-there thought to have.

But it wasn’t all his fault that we hadn’t seen each other. He was busy with his new piece, and I’d been busting my ass, too. Now that my apartment was close to work – and I mean close enough that I could walk there – I was spending longer hours there.

It was to save up enough to be able to afford taking a week off for Hannah’s celebration.

I hadn’t taken a day off in two weeks even though I was supposed to. I didn’t care. I’d work every day up until Hannah’s week away if it meant that I didn’t have to worry about being called in.

This was important to Hannah, which meant it was important to me.

But it also meant that I was walking home in the dead of night, ignoring the small sounds around me. If I paid too much attention to them, my paranoid brain would drive me crazy and I’d end up running home in a state of fear. My brain often overworked itself if you couldn’t tell.

So, I had to think about other things. I focused on other things to distract myself, which was something I’d taught myself to do while I’d been working overseas and walking everywhere. It was helpful to focus on loose threads in my clothes, or the crackle of my almost-broken left earbud as I listened to Lorde’s pretty voice filter from my phone.

Before I knew it, I was walking up my five flights of stairs and into my apartment.

What I hadn’t expected was for my nostrils to instantly dilate at the heavenly smell of a roast dinner. My first thought was that my downstairs neighbor was trying to kill me by making me combust with jealousy at their delicious smelling food.

But that thought was quickly expelled from my head when my eyes landed on Flynn standing in my kitchen looking domestic as fuck.

He was barefoot in nothing more than sweatpants and a simple grey t-shirt. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen him so underdressed – aside from when we were fucking like rabbits. He was always in slacks, even when he was working which had always seemed odd to me.

But now, with his hair tousled like he’d run his hands through it after washing it, and with a tea towel slung lazily over his shoulder as he leant over my barely used oven to pull a delectably crispy skinned roast out and onto the bench – I swear I could have fucked him right there if he’d let me.

“Hi,” I managed to say, not able to hide the tone of surprise in my voice. I put my keys in the bowl by the door and started shrugging off my coat, dropping my bag to the floor. Flynn looked up from where he set down the meat on the bench. He gave me a soft look, which shook me.

I felt rooted in place when he took a step towards me, and his hand cupped my jaw as his lips pecked mine.

“Hi,” he replied. “Can you pass me the thyme from the spice rack behind you?”

My eyes widened when he leant away and went back to the food as if what he’d just done was completely natural and normal for us. I was shell shocked. I hadn’t even had time to savor that kiss. My lips tingled.

“Uhh…,” I managed to find a use for my tongue. “Yeah, sure.”

I turned around, picking up my shaker of thyme before handing it over to him. He gave me a nod as he sprinkled some of the herbs over the crispy skin of what I realized was a roast pork. My mouth watered for more than one reason.

That roast was practically almost finished cooking. Which meant he’d been here for _hours_.

My heart fluttered at that realization.

“It’s got probably another twenty minutes,” Flynn said as I watched him bend over to put it back into the oven. I took the time to admire his ass – I wasn’t gonna let that opportunity slide by if he was gonna put it on display for me. He rose an eyebrow at me with a wry look when he turned around and caught me staring.

“You’ve got time to shower if that’d make you more comfortable to eat?” he said, walking around the counter towards me. My heart faltered a little when his hand came to my waist, warm and solid as I leant into him. My head tilted upwards and his lips descended on mine.

My eyes fluttered shut and my hands came to his arms, just above his elbows, caressing him as he kissed me slowly and surely. I resisted the urge to moan at his skill.

When he pulled away, he was staring into my wide eyes.

“Mmm, would you join me?” I asked, my voice low as I smirked up at him. I watched his lip quirk up slightly as he huffed once. He rolled his eyes at me, squeezing my waist.

I could feel his erection growing against me.

“I can’t guarantee that wouldn’t spoil dinner,” he said, looking down at me. I grinned but shrugged my shoulders. I stood up on my tip toes, my hand on the back of his neck to peck a kiss to his lips again. It wasn’t my fault I couldn’t get enough of him. Seeing him in my home, making himself comfortable and cooking me food – that shit was hot.

“Fine,” I grinned when I leant away, enjoying the slightly dazed look in his eyes. “But you know you’re missing out on me… wet… and waiting…” I teased. Flynn gave me his version of a smirk as I grinned at him.

I turned on my heel, heading for my bathroom and loving the heat of his gaze on my back as I walked away. Dinner ended up being fantastic, I mean, I already knew he was a great cook. But, the fact that he’d gone to so much trouble for me, just to make sure I was actually having a decent meal for once made my heart soar.

Which was why when we were laying in my bed hours later, I decided I’d give him the one reward that most men had wet dreams about.

We were both lying on our backs, myself tucked into his side as he languidly played with curled strands of my blonde hair. My hand was on his chest, tracing patterns into his skin in silence.

It was probably the most casual we’d ever been in bed, and I wasn’t saying no. Usually, the two of us were a wham-bam-thankyou-ma’am kind of deal, so this was a nice change.

I looked up at him. It was a little difficult in the darkness but I knew he was awake. He was always awake at weird shit hours of the morning. I gave him a small smile, feeling the way his thumb stroked at the exposed skin of my shoulder.

“Thank you for making me dinner,” I whispered, not wanting to break our comfortable silence. Flynn didn’t answer me, instead he just pressed a soft kiss to the top of my head. He didn’t realize it but he was making me swoon.

I moved, shuffling out of his grip and swinging one leg over his midsection until I was straddling him, hovering above him and letting my hair cascade down like my own private waterfall.

Flynn looked up at me curiously, his hands resting on my thighs as I sat back on my haunches.

“I want to repay the favor,” I grinned, moving back until I was sitting on his thighs.

“Kingsley–” he muttered, his fingers caressing my skin. I cut him off when my pussy lips slid across his cock.

I rose an eyebrow at him, daring him to challenge me. But then I frowned when he sat up with a sigh. He wrapped an arm around my waist as we were suddenly chest to chest.

“That’s not how I want this to work,” he whispered. I frowned, about to question him but he inclined his head slightly. I let him speak. “This isn’t some I-scratched-your-back-now-you-scratch-mine kind of deal,” he said.

I frowned.

“That’s not what I–” I tried to explain, but he shook his head, his hand ghosting down my skin to rest over my ass, effectively shutting me up.

“I didn’t make you dinner because I thought I’d get some sex out of it,” he said, his voice evenly measured. “I made you dinner because I think that taking the time to do something nice and show an effort to spend time with each other is an important part of being in a– …I mean I think it’s important that you eat well, and I wanted to do this for you.”

My heart was singing at what he hadn’t said. He’d said everything _but_ the words but I didn’t care. He didn’t need to say the words, he just needed to believe that that’s what we were. That was all the confirmation that I needed.

I grinned at him, my arms draping lazily over his shoulders as I pressed my forehead against his.

“ _You’re taking care of me_ ,” I whispered, grinning at him. I was going slightly cross-eyed from trying to hold his gaze at this angle but I didn’t care. Flynn sighed up at me, both hands on the sides of my waist, holding me down on him as I chuckled into him.

He rolled his eyes when I leant down to kiss him. He let me take control as I pushed my tongue into his mouth, being the one to explore for once. He tasted like spearmint instead of apples – like my toothpaste tonight. I liked that. I liked that he felt comfortable enough to use my things, and leave clothes at my apartment, and make me dinner on my late working nights.

I liked that he wanted to spend time with me and take care of me and share my bed. I liked that. I liked it a lot.

When I leant back, my hand cupped the side of his face, my thumb tracing down the length of his nose before landing on his lips. I pried them apart slightly with a smile. Flynn kissed the pad of my thumb before drawing the digit inside his mouth and nipping at it, making me giggle.

“I’m not offering to ‘scratch your back’,” I smiled, my other hand tangling in the baby hairs at the base of his throat. I could feel him growing against my core as he watched me give him a sultry smile. “But is it so wrong for me to want you?” I asked. “And to want to make you feel good?”

Flynn’s silence was measured as he held my gaze.

“Not if it’s an act of repayment,” he said, his voice hard and stubborn. I bit my lip. Deliberately, I let my hips grind slowly against his length one time, making him tense beneath me and shoot me a warning look. It felt heavenly, and he might have thought I was just teasing – which was definitely a part of it – but I had other plans, too.

“Hmm,” I pretended to consider his statement, licking my bottom lip slightly. “Okay,” I agreed. “How about a compromise then…?”

Flynn rose an eyebrow at me.

“That way we can both find a little satisfaction here…”

Flynn was silent but he didn’t say no. I smirked as I leant forward, laying him on his back again. Then his hands left my knees as I stood up. He rose an eyebrow curiously at me as I turned around and lowered myself down again so that my stomach laid against his. Only this time, I was facing his beautifully rock-hard cock that stood at attention for me.

Flynn sighed out as he finally realized what I’d been talking about. His slow breath fanning across my pussy was enough to make me shudder. I didn’t waste any time, because he knew what I wanted now.

I let my tongue glide across the steel of his cock, making him groan out my name. If anything, that spurred me on even more. My lips enclosed over his head, sucking hard once before letting it pop from my lips.

Then I felt his fingers against me, spreading me before being replaced with his tongue. I couldn’t help the gasp that filtered through my lips as his tongue knocked against my clit.

This was the first time I’d tried this position, but I was definitely adding it to my roster from now on. I could already see it’s potential. Going back to the task at hand – literally – I squeezed him at his base before I hollowed out my cheeks and let him slide to the very back of my throat.

It constricted around him, making his hips jolt upwards and making him bump the back of my throat. My harsh intake of breath through my nose made me back up slightly, but also made me push back on his lips.

My eyes fell closed and my nipples tightened, dragging across his taut skin as I went back in.

I couldn’t get enough of his flavor. I had one hand on his length, pumping and clenching where appropriate, and my other hand on his thigh, holding him close and prisoner.

His fingers were on my ass and my clit, teasing where he couldn’t focus with his tongue and I moaned into his cock when he sucked hard at my core.

I could feel myself gushing as he mashed his tongue against my folds. I flattened my tongue against his head before letting it glide down his length – to his base and back to the tip again. I could feel him tightening between my lips but I didn’t stop there.

I was finding it harder to focus, the harder he became, and the harder that he used his tongue against me. The nerve endings in my body were all firing off at once and if my tongue hadn’t been wrapped around his steel, I’d have screamed into the abyss.

My eyes flew open and I sucked hard on his cock when I felt myself give way. With a long moan I came with a rush against his lips, and he proceeded to lap up my cream like it was frosting on his favorite cake. It wasn’t two seconds later that in the blinded mess he’d made me, I managed to bring him to his release.

His tip exploded in my mouth and he grunted and groaned into me, making me moan as his taste fell on my tongue. I swallowed every drop.

When we both came down, Flynn managed to help me turn back around, his mouth latching on to mine as we both savored each other. My eyes were clenched shut as he folded me into his arms and pulled the covers over us.

One of my legs rested between his and my body was pressed hard against his. My head fell onto his chest when his lips finally released me and I sighed into him, making myself comfortable.

He was still breathing hard and I looked up at him with a grin.

“Thanks for dinner,” I grinned. Flynn looked down at me, only to roll his eyes as I chuckled silently into his chest.

“You’re impossible,” he whispered darkly, pecking the top of my head. I smiled, pressing a kiss to his skin before I closed my eyes and waited for sleep to fall over me.

.

**Someone scratch _my_ back ;)**


	12. Eleven: In Which She Gets A Quickie

**ELEVEN: In Which She Gets A Quickie**

**Kingsley**

Flynn helped me get my suitcase into the back of his car. He had assured Hannah that he’d give me a ride up to Big Bear seeing as I was without a car and she agreed because she wasn’t sure that he’d come if he drove alone.

She still didn’t know about us.

Even in the last month that we’d been sleeping at each other’s places, Hannah was still oblivious to our relationship. Yes, you heard correctly, I said _relationship_. While he hadn’t exactly asked me to be his girlfriend in those select words, I assumed Flynn wasn’t really the type to ask.

He didn’t say much anyway, so, as frustrating as it was, I think he was leaving the decision up to me.

But in the end, I didn’t need him to say the words because I knew he wasn’t sleeping around on me, and I definitely wasn’t seeing anyone else. We had a silent agreement that we were just with each other, and I was enjoying being with him outside of anyone knowing.

Sure, with each growing day that passed and Hannah still didn’t know I was fucking her dad, I felt a little more guilty than the last. It helped that I didn’t get to see her very much, though the next week stuck in a house with her was sure to test everything.

That was one aspect of this trip that I definitely wasn’t looking forward to.

“You’re frowning again,” Flynn voiced, his eyebrow raising as he watched me where I stood leaning against his car with my ankle crossed over the other, and my arms across my chest.

I bit my lip, shrugging.

“I’m nervous,” I said, like he didn’t already know. I mean, it wasn’t like my anxiety hadn’t been the thing stopping us from having sex the last three nights anyway. I was a nervous wreck.

He nodded, taking a step closer to me and trapping me between him and his sleek car.

“You don’t have to be,” he said. “She’s not going to know unless you want her to.”

I frowned up at him when his hands cupped my waist.

“So, this is all up to me?” I complained, like I hadn’t asked for it to be. Flynn sighed, stepping away from me. I didn’t like that. _Why did I have to do that?_ I wanted him pressed back against me, so I reached out to grasp the opening of his button-down cover before he could walk away from me.

He was wearing a simple white t-shirt beneath the baby blue button up, which was opened like the way anyone would wear a jacket. Sexy. It looked unfairly delicious on him.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I know I’m the one keeping _us_ quiet…” I frowned, fiddling with the fabric of his shirt between my fingers as I avoided his gaze. I heard him sigh before he took a step into me again, his knee coming between my legs as his hand cupped my jaw.

He made me look up at him as my fist pressed against his abdomen, my knuckles pressed against the ridges resting just beneath his skin. Hot. He frowned down at me, his tawny eyes searching mine. I was open to him, letting him see what I couldn’t say.

He shook his head once. “We can tell her when you’re ready,” he said. “You know that.”

I bit my lip, nodding once. _He_ wasn’t the one making us wait, I was. He would have been happy to let his daughter know he was engaging in casual sex – well, not so casual sex anymore – with her best friend when we started, but he had respected my not wanting to do that. Which was why it was up to me, but that only made me feel so much more pressure.

His thumb traced the seam of my lips as his eyes burned into mine. I couldn’t stop the flame and the burning need that that look ignited inside me. I felt on fire by the time he managed to slowly dip his head to mine, meeting my lips to swallow my small gasp and press firmly.

My hand not pressed to his abdomen found his waist, before my thumb hooked into one of his belt loops as he kissed me easily. I liked that things were easy between us now. It had been a long road to get here but I liked that we were stuck in our own little bubble for a while.

It made it feel like he was all mine.

I hid the sting of disappointment that thrummed in my veins when he moved away. Reluctantly, I disentangled my fingers from his clothing as he put a lick of space between us.

He cleared his throat, surprising me as a small blush appeared at the base of his neck. I liked that. He didn’t know how much I did.

I couldn’t believe he could still get shy or timid or embarrassed around me, or whatever the blush was caused by, but I found it hot as hell.

He brushed his hand behind his neck, rubbing there as he refused to meet my eyes, instead distracting himself by moving to the trunk of the car and shutting the lid closed.

“We should get going,” he said. “Hannah will kill us if we’re a minute late and off schedule.”

I bit my lip, steeling the throb of arousal he’d just bloomed inside of me before I opened my door and fell into the passenger seat. He was sliding a pair of sunglasses onto the bridge of his nose as I fastened my seatbelt. I tried not to focus on the fact that this simple embellishment made him look unbelievably suave and casual at the same time.

I had to squeeze my thighs together to rid the thirsty thoughts thrumming through my skull that this one image bore in my brain. When we pulled off the curb and made our way out of my neighborhood, Flynn leant across to take a hold of my hand.

He did it so casually that it made me smile shyly to myself, looking out the window as our fingers intertwined easily. He rested our hands against the center console, his other hand resting on the wheel to steer us towards the cabin.

I could feel my heart pounding in my chest at his simple act of casual romance and I could only hope that he couldn’t feel my pulse raging through my fingertips. He didn’t need to know how much I was enjoying myself.

His thumb languidly – and I think unintentionally – stroked across the back of my hand. I don’t think he even realized he was doing it. The comfortable silence that we found ourselves in only made my heart warm at his new ability to be so comfortable with this kind of thing with me.

It was the little things, the small gestures that he used to show me that he wanted to keep me around, those were the things that set my skin on fire. They were his way of telling me how he felt, and I kind of liked that they were private and unsaid words.

It made it feel all the more ours… special.

I groaned inwardly as we hit the highway. It was bumper to bumper traffic and we were moving as quickly as ants.

“Damn,” Flynn muttered. I cocked my head in his direction to catch his frown at the slow-moving cars around us. I watched his eyebrows crease beneath his shades as he let out a low breath. He turned his head slightly in my direction to catch my eye and I just shrugged, giving him a small smile. There was nothing we could do about the traffic anyway.

The drive to the cabin should have been a relatively short trip – just over two hours – however now it was looking like that time frame could possibly be doubled, if not more.

I pulled my phone from my lap and googled what the problem could have possibly been. I frowned when I saw the incident report, it didn’t have many details, short and to the point, but said that it had happened an hour ago, which meant we’d be right in the thick of it.

“There was a five-car pileup on the 210,” I said. “It’s gonna be a while.” Flynn sighed but nodded, squeezing my hand once. It made my stomach flutter and the corner of my mouth quirk into a small smile but he didn’t see it. He was focused on the road.

“So…” I trailed off. “How do you want to be entertained in this long ass drive?” I grinned, turning to beam a megawatt smile his way. I watched the corner of his lip quirk into his almost-smile at my attempt to make this drive easier.

“If you suggest twenty-questions, you can walk to the cabin,” he deadpanned. I giggled.

“In this traffic I’d still probably get there before you.”

Flynn huffed out a small chuckled, his head dipping into a single nod.

“Very true. Alright all knowing, Kingsley, what do you propose we do?”

I smiled. I liked hearing his admissions to talk to me. I knew it was weird, especially since we were basically dating that I still had to look forward to him actually talking to me but I couldn’t explain it.

We were different than most couples, I knew that. I knew that he preferred to communicate through actions, which was fine with me. His silence wasn’t a bother… most of the time. An unnecessarily long car ride however, yeah there was no way I was sitting in silence the whole time.

“I don’t know. Now that you’ve vetoed twenty questions, it’s all I can think about,” I pouted. It was kind of true. But I also just had a hundred questions in my head for him that had been building up since the day I’d come back to California.

Flynn rolled his eyes. “Fine, I’ll give you five,” he conceded. I grinned, squeezing his hand.

“Okay,” I smiled. Then I bit my lip. Five questions was not even the tip of the iceberg of the millions in my mind. I had to make them count. I couldn’t waste a single one.

I decided to start off easy to break the ice. I needed him to be comfortable before I could ask him what I’d been begging to ask since our date on the beach all those weeks ago.

“Who’s your favorite artist?” I smiled. I watched the crease between his eyebrows appear and deepen.

“You’ll have to be more specific,” he said, his head shaking minutely. “Modern? Renaissance? Classic? Painter? Sculptor? Visual? Audible?”

I bit my lip. “If I said all of them would it count as using up my five questions?”

Flynn pretended to consider my question, teasing me. I rolled my eyes, elbowing him. “You’re terrible, you know.”

Flynn chuckled. “I know. No… they can just count as the one question.” That made me smile. I liked that we were being like this, comfortable and easy. Easy enough to slightly tease and joke around. It was the kind of intimacy I’d always craved.

Not the sexual I-have-to-have-you-now kind, but the I-want-to-cuddle-up-by-the-campfire-and-count-the-stars-with-you kind.

It made my chest warm.

“Renaissance.”

Flynn sighed, his hand moving from the steering wheel to rub at his jaw. It didn’t matter that his hands weren’t on the wheel because we weren’t even moving.

“Jacopo Tintoretto, specifically his portrait _Summer_.”

I smiled. “I’m not sure I’m familiar…”

Flynn nodded. “Italian. Attended the Venetian school. His work is pretentious in that of most renaissance artists and focuses a lot on the female form, but there’s something about the art at time that speaks to me. Artists weren’t afraid of their expression and the way they depicted humans was beautiful. No holds barred. They captured every expression and every part of the body in a way that you don’t find now.

All modern art is focused on not offending anyone, and it usually takes the form of the media’s perception of beauty. Renaissance art saw the human form as beautiful, no matter the shape. In fact, you were considered more beautiful the larger you were, as a sign of wealth and prominence.”

I smiled. My eyes were glued to his lips, watching them form the shapes of words, the way they moved. He was captivating.

“So basically, you’re saying you like the titty pictures,” I grinned. Flynn rolled his eyes.

“If that’s what you heard, then I guess, yes,” he sighed, shaking his head with a small inaudible chuckle. I grinned. I liked this side of him.

“Modern,” I said, pressing him further.

“Neither technically count as _modern_ as such, I guess, but… Gustav Klimt or Jackson Pollock.”

I frowned. “Why?”

“Pollock’s work is a mess to most people. Chaotic and unfocused. But I don’t see that. I see uniformity where others see chaos. I see honed expression where others see carelessness. There’s a lot of debate about the authenticity of his work and any reason that it should fetch a high price as it looks like it’s taken no air of discipline, instead looks like it’s been thrown together in a matter of minutes.

I don’t see that, though. The shapes and the visuals are what I see. Sometimes you just have to look a little deeper to understand the chaos on the surface,” he trailed off.

My eyes widened. I had never thought of it that way. I studied his face as he watched the road, maneuvering the car easily through the lanes, weaving slowly and easily. The way he spoke of those artworks… it was like he was telling me something without my realizing.

“And Klimt?” I asked.

Flynn chuckled. “Pretty colors, no?”

I shrugged. I wasn’t completely familiar. “I guess…”

Flynn gave me his almost smile again, like the ghost of a smile. “He has a way of making shapes feel expressive through gold tones. No one dared use gold at the time, but there’s something about his work that feels regal because of it. In my eyes, it’s kind of revolutionary…”

I considered him. He got a faraway look in his eyes when he discussed something special to him, something he adored. It was beautiful.

“Audible.” I wanted to keep him talking.

Flynn shrugged. “I don’t really listen to music.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t buy it,” I said. “There has to be someone or a band from sometime that you jam out to in that basement while no one’s watching. Come on, who do you listen to while working out?”

Flynn frowned. “I don’t know.”

I grinned. “Well, what about the classical music that’s always playing in the car. Who is that?”

Flynn shrugged, moving his hand to flip on the stereo system and turn the volume up. “It’s just a classical radio station,” he said, gesturing to the screen to prove it to me. I frowned.

“So, you didn’t listen to anyone growing up? I thought your grandmother was a singer?”

“An understudy,” he conceded. “And no, I only listened to classical music growing up. I was made to study it, so I didn’t have time to pay attention to other things.”

I frowned, he’d given me a nugget of information and I was going to hold onto it.

“Study it? As in the form of it, or like, study to play it?”

Flynn sighed, casting an exasperated look my way. I didn’t care. He should have known by now that I asked all the hard questions that dug under his skin and stayed there.

“Classical piano,” he said. “My mother urged me to play as a child but I gave it up at ten to focus on my art, much to my parents chagrin. They had wanted to send me to Julliard to then play for the London Symphony Orchestra.”

My jaw dropped. “ _Could_ you have?” I asked, my voice high and incredulous. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

Flynn frowned. “I was… _adequate_ …” he trailed off. “I don’t think I’d have made it into such a renowned symphony orchestra, though. It’s why I chose to focus on my art instead.”

I frowned. I didn’t really believe him when he said he was adequate. It didn’t fit right in my mind, at least, not with everything that I knew about him. I hadn’t seen him try something he hadn’t been out-of-this-world excellent at.

What else did his parents encourage him to study? I wanted to know more about them. Hannah had mentioned they’d be at the cabin too and I didn’t want to make a bad impression. While they wouldn’t find out Flynn and I were together, I still, for some reason, wanted them to like me.

I’d never met a boyfriend’s parents before…

“Did they support that?” I asked. “Your art, I mean.”

Flynn shrugged. “I was ten, they thought it was a phase,” he said. “However, they hired me a tutor to entertain my aspirations, thinking I’d grow out of it. When I didn’t, they still didn’t understand my liking for it and constantly pushed me to go back to music, constantly saying that there would be more of a career for me in music than in art.

“I don’t know how right they were but I decided to steady on with my art. While they strongly advocated for my participation in orchestra, they still supported my art in the same fashion, just without the personal engagement.”

I bit my lip. “What do you mean?”

He shrugged. “They threw money at me, which I guess was their version of support. They bought me whatever I needed in that moment for my art, but they never discussed it with me, never wanted to hear about what I was working on for years. I’d always assumed it was their way of appeasing me after Hannah was taken away from me, trying to get into my good graces after they’d practically let it happen…”

My eyes widened; I didn’t think that this was where he was going with this conversation.

“When I got Hannah back, I decided I’d sell what I’d made both to make room for her and provide for her. Then with the money I’d earned, I got myself out of my parent’s house in a place where I could raise Hannah without the pressure that they’d always lain on top of me in my formative years. Didn’t know what the hell I was doing with a kid at that age, but I knew she couldn’t stay there.

“Not when they looked at her like she was some money hungry little parasite. I couldn’t comprehend how they could see her that way, I mean, she was just six years old with a gapped smile and a lisp…”

I squeezed his hand in solidarity. It was the most he’d ever said about his parents but it was enough to paint a picture for me as to why he’d never mentioned them before.

I already knew that they were going to be the hardest to win over up at the cabin, but now I wasn’t sure they’d even tolerate my presence. Would they just see me as Hannah’s charity case friend who she spent way too much money on?

Would they see me as a mooch or a gold digger?

Would they instantly see through Flynn and I?

“When did Hannah get back into contact with them?” I asked, my voice low. He was like a wild animal in a cage and I didn’t want to spook him.

“They weren’t around as she grew up. An obligatory Christmas or birthday gift here and there but they didn’t meet her until she was in College. My father spoke at a lecture once and Hannah sat in, curious about him. After seeing the young woman she’d become, he took her to lunch and I couldn’t stop her from falling in with them after that,” he admitted. “She doesn’t see them the way that I do, which I guess in itself is a silver lining.

“They dote on her for having missed out on her life until now and Hannah adores them for it. She didn’t tell me she’d rekindled a relationship with them until a year after it had happened. Sat me down for lunch like some kind of intervention for an alcoholic.”

I frowned. That didn’t sound like Hannah to me. Throughout the years I’d known her, she’d been adamant about hating her grandparents as a child for abandoning her. She had admitted many times that she didn’t know why Flynn didn’t have a good relationship with them. She didn’t know the full story, and neither did I, but I was piecing it together day by day.

I wasn’t sure Flynn would ever tell me the real truth of his teenage years, though. I didn’t think I’d ever be privy to how he’d wound up with a daughter at age twelve.

I could tell he was uncomfortable with where the conversation had led to, obviously having not been prepared to spill so much about his ever-secretive family life. I liked that he was opening up to me, however long it had taken, it meant that he trusted me enough to know his past.

I changed the subject before his attention and his willingness to converse could slip away from me.

“Okay, here’s another of my questions,” I said. “If you could pick any place in the entire world to retire, you wouldn’t have to worry about a mortgage or how much you had to have saved, imagine everything is paid for and you’re in a comfortable position in life so that you never have to work or struggle for anything ever. Where would you go?”

Flynn frowned as he considered my question.

He took a whole five minutes to deliberate before finally answering me.

“Tough question,” he said, eyeing me. I grinned, shrugging.

“Thankyou.”

Flynn sighed, biting his lip before speaking. “There’s an old house on the coast of Maine that overlooks the ocean. It has an old out of use lighthouse attached to it. There’s a bunch of steps leading down the cliffside to a tiny little beach that spends half the day underwater, but in the time of day that it’s open, it leads into this little cave opening.

“I was on vacation once with Hannah when she was much younger and we’d come across the place on a roadtrip. Stereotypical stormy weather of Maine and our car broke down. The couple who owned the place let us stay for a few days. I taught Hannah how to skip rocks and she spent half her days in the shade of the little cavern building sandcastles.

“It was just so peaceful and I often find myself thinking about going back to see if the old couple still live there. There was nothing for miles and something about that always called to me.”

I smiled at him. The admission was so personal, possibly even more so than anything else he’d said on the entire trip. It was these little things that he dropped into conversation that made me want to pull his lips to mine and kiss him until I couldn’t breathe.

He didn’t know what he did to me.

I crossed one leg over the other and continued our conversation. It felt easy after that, easy enough that I didn’t even notice the time passing.

I looked out the windscreen. In all of our conversation, I’d been so focused on watching and listening to Flynn speak that I hadn’t noticed we’d made it out of the heavy traffic and onto the open road.

And it had been hours. For the first time since we’d gotten into the car, the conversation lulled into peaceful silence. I let the ease of the drive keep me company as he drove us towards the cabin. But then, something happened that surprised me.

“Shit,” Flynn cursed under his breath. I turned to face him, raising an eyebrow. Flynn just sighed, annoyed. “We have to pull over at the next rest stop,” he said. “The traffic jam burnt up all our fuel and I need to refill.”

I nodded easily. “No worries, that’s not a huge deal.”

Flynn still looked annoyed, his eyebrows creasing together in the middle. I turned in my seat and put my hand on his arm.

“Hey, it’s fine,” I smiled. He didn’t flinch at my touch but I could feel the hard muscle rolling beneath my hand. “We probably need to get some supplies for the cabin anyway. I heard that there’s supposed to be a bit of hectic weather this week…”

Flynn frowned, looking at the clear sky outside.

“I know it doesn’t look it,” I grinned. “But better safe than sorry, right?”

Flynn sighed, placing his hand over mine on his arm, stroking over my fingers lightly and making my heart clench. He nodded.

“Yeah, sure,” he said. Another five or ten minutes of us just holding hands or shifting closer to touch skin and then we’d made it to the rest stop. I felt like I was burning up in his presence.

There was just something about him that I wanted… _needed._

I practically threw myself out of the car when we arrived. I went into the little kiosk to get a few different items that we could take with us, then a snack for the rest of the drive.

It was all way too overpriced but I didn’t care. When I brought it back out to the car, Flynn was standing idly next to the pump, minding his own business as he filled the tank. His hair was swept sideways by the breeze and his sunglasses were pushed high up the bridge of his nose.

In that short sleeved shirt, I could see his muscles bulging slightly at the angle he held the fuel gun, his finger held tight against the nozzle. It wasn’t one of those automatic ones.

I felt a flush come over me as I watched him. I ran a hand through my hair, trying to steel myself. The next few days were going to be hell. We wouldn’t be able to spend any time alone together around Hannah’s friends and family. The thought of it was killing me.

I opened my passenger door and deposited my things in my seat before straightening up. Flynn’s eyes met mine over the top of the car and he raised an eyebrow at me, no doubt noticing the flush in my cheeks.

I averted my eyes and bit my lip.

“I’m uhhh… I’m just going to go freshen up,” I said, backing up slightly, regarding his nod before I turned and made my way to the little bathroom attached to the kiosk.

When I made it inside, I was surprised to find that it was actually clean. Most of the time, rest stop bathrooms were a nightmare to walk into. I made my way over to the mirror, it was shaded in that way the glass got mottled sometimes. My image was fuzzy, a little distorted, but it would do.

I let the sink run before I plunged my hands under to bring the cool water to my face. I could feel my burning skin beneath my hands and I frowned, breathing heavily. I didn’t know what the hell was wrong with me.

 _Is this what gets you going now?_ I wondered inwardly. _A few hours alone in a car with a ridiculously attractive man telling you little ins and outs of his desires and his likes? That’s all it takes now?_

I sighed to myself, rubbing my hand over my face before my head fell back, eyes closed as I leant against the small sink.

It wasn’t just these things, it was everything about him. His eyes, the little crease between his brows that I just wanted to smooth out with my finger, the curve of his lips, the depth of his voice and the way it grated across my ears. It was the lilt of his words and the way his stories came from a place inside him that he hadn’t thought was going to be opened. It was his scent that filled up every crevice of the car and it was his strong hands on the wheel, never wavering.

It was everything.

The fact that he was trusting me enough to answer even my most innane questions in an attempt to get to know him better. It was his answers to said questions that only left me begging to know more. It was his endless patience with me. It was the fact that he felt comfortable enough with me just to sit in silence without it being awkward anymore.

I sighed, running my hand – cool from the water – over the back of my neck to separate my skin from my hair. I jumped when the door opened hurriedly. I didn’t even have time to say that the bathroom was occupied because by the time I’d turned around, familiar lips were on mine, hard and heavy.

I groaned into Flynn, my hands finding his hair as his embrace enveloped me. I didn’t know what the hell had brough all of this on, but I wasn’t complaining.

“I need you,” Flynn whispered, his words hot against my lips.

His hands came underneath my thighs, lifting me to sit precariously on the tiny bathroom sink. Then his hand was underneath my shirt, tugging it higher until he found my bra covered nipple. I moaned into his kiss, my fingers in his hair as I wrapped my legs around his waist.

I drew back from our kiss when his fingers delved beneath my bra to pinch at my nipple.

“What about Hannah’s schedule?” I asked, only half joking. Flynn looked at me through lidded eyes, casting me a smirk and rolling his eyes before his head ducked and captured my nipple. His lips drew it in and I threw my head back with a moan.

I felt tingles racing across my body as he bit into the sensitive bud, rolling it around his tongue and between teeth. After a few more seconds of me keening towards him, my core pressed flush against his, his lips separated from my skin and moved back up to hover over my own.

“ _Fuck_ the schedule,” he breathed, his voice lower than a whisper. I couldn’t help the grin that lifted across my lips. “We can blame it on traffic anyway…”

My laugh that followed was swallowed by his lips as he pulled me closer. When I started my day, I didn’t think it would include a confusing quickie in a rest stop bathroom, but you wouldn’t catch me complaining…

.

**...**


	13. Twelve: In Which She Comes To Family Dinner

**TWELVE: In Which She Comes To Family Dinner**

**Kingsley**

The first night at the cabin was the longest night.

Flynn and I made it there hours after everyone else, late enough to have Hannah blowing up my phone on the drive, arguing with me over the line about how everyone else had managed to get there hours ago.

I made up some bullshit excuse. After all, I couldn’t very well tell her that we were late because her father had been fucking me against the wall of a rest stop bathroom. I couldn’t tell her that he’d held me up with his strength alone before bringing me to an earth-shattering orgasm.

I couldn’t tell her any of that.

When we finally made it to the cabin, we were shown which of the rooms belonged to us. I had been astounded when we’d arrived, because the simple cabin that I knew from my childhood was no longer. Before me stood a monolith.

It had undergone so much renovation that if you’d told me the Kardashians lived here, I’d have believed you.

Hannah had gone on to tell me whilst giving me a tour that the place now had fifteen bedrooms and even more bathrooms. I didn’t know what to make of that. I didn’t want to know who had paid for it.

Flynn and I were in rooms down the hall from one another, and mine was a small single with a smaller bathroom attached, but I wasn’t complaining. I was glad at least that I didn’t need to share with anyone.

Then Hannah had rushed us to shower and change and _be down for dinner in twenty five minutes, it’s being served in thirty_. Flynn and I jumped to our orders, on my part out of guilt that we’d held up Hannah’s celebration this far already.

Emerging from my bathroom in a towel, I found that someone had lain a dress on my bed for me. It was a deep navy blue color, form fitting for the bodice and flowing out nicely at the skirt, and it had small laced cap sleeves. It fell just shy of my knees. It was nicer than anything I owned.

I assumed Hannah had brought it for me, which concerned me because the dress looked quite formal. I hadn’t packed for a formal occasion, but then again, I hadn’t known until recently that her uber-strict grandparents would be here for any of this week.

I assumed it was partly for their benefit that I was to dress up. I sighed, resigning myself to it and pulling on the dress. There was a necklace underneath which I knew belonged to Hannah. I’d seen her wear it on more than one occasion and knew for a fact that it cost more than my apartment.

I couldn’t bring myself to put it on. I wasn’t trying to hide who I was. I didn’t need Flynn’s parents getting the wrong impression of me as someone who either made enough to earn the money for a necklace like this, or even for them to know that I’d take the Forbes’ charity.

They didn’t need to know how much I already owed them.

I put on a pair of simple pearl earrings instead and a pair of my black heels. Then I pulled my mess of blonde curls up into a messy pony, regarding myself in the mirror with a frown.

I pulled my hair out, opting to just pin back the locks that framed my face and letting the rest fall freely. I sighed. This was as good as it would get. I checked the time on my phone before applying a layer of soft makeup.

By the time I walked back out to my little bedroom, I was surprised to see Flynn standing at the foot of my bed, his feet shifting. He was eyeing the necklace on my bed. I bit my lip, raising my eyebrow at him.

He looked nice. Smartly dressed in slacks and shiny shoes, as well as a white button up shirt peeking out beneath a simple grey sweater. The sleeves were rolled to his elbows and his hair was wet and hanging over his eyes slightly. I couldn’t see him holding a sport coat or anything, so maybe this wasn’t as formal as I’d thought.

He looked up when I came in, his eyes roving over my body. I couldn’t afford for him to sport that look in his eyes right now. I wouldn’t be able to make it through dinner if I was going to be aroused the whole time.

“You were waiting for me?” I asked. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know his answer. Surely, we couldn’t walk into this dinner together. Wouldn’t it look suspicious? Especially after we’d arrived here together?

I didn’t need people becoming enlightened about our relationship. Especially not Hannah, and especially not in front of his parents…

He inclined his head a moment. “Not for long,” he replied, his voice low and his eyebrows furrowed. He averted his gaze from mine. But it was in that movement that I realized the real reason he’d come to my room.

The shifting feet, the crease between his brows, the fiddling of his fingers at the hem of his sweater.

Flynn was nervous.

“How long has it been since you’ve seen your parents?” I asked, my voice quiet. I said the words slowly, so as not to spook him. I hoped it didn’t come off too cautious.

I watched him bite his lip.

“Years,” he finally said. His voice was low, but not low enough to disguise the telltale crack in it. I nodded. I didn’t have time to say anything else because the door was thrown open and Hannah was left standing there.

She gave her father a quick glance; if she was confused to see him in my room, she didn’t let it show, but her gaze did linger for a moment. Then she looked at me and grinned.

“Oh, you look great! So, I got the size right then?” she asked, her eyes light. I smiled.

“Yeah, thanks, Han. If I’d have known this was a more formal thing then I would have packed more–”

“Nonsense,” she cut me off with the wave of her hand. “It was a last-minute change of plans and I just pulled a dress from my unworn side of the closet. Noah’s always saying it’s taking up too much of the walk-in anyway.”

I sighed. Trying to argue with her on these things was like trying to cut a dog’s toenails – unnecessarily difficult, and stubborn on her part. It was easier to thank her and get it over with, and then slip whatever she’d given me back into her things before I left.

“Okay, well… thank you,” I said. Hannah just smiled at me, shrugging.

“No worries, now, everybody is gathering for dinner so come on down,” Hannah grinned. “We’re having beef tenderloin.”

My stomach growled on command and Hannah smirked in my direction.

“And put on that pretty necklace!” she called as she made her way out of the room. Before I could complain, she cut me off again. “It’ll round out the whole ensemble!”

I rolled my eyes as her voice and footsteps got more distant. I could feel that my cheeks were flushed as I my eyes met with Flynn’s for a moment. He nodded, taking a step forward and scooping the all-too-expensive necklace from my bed.

“She’s right,” he said, his voice low. “Turn.”

My lips pressed together as I turned for him and lifted my hair out of the way. I let out a slow breath as he fastened it behind my neck, letting its weight fall on my décolletage. Just from how heavy it was, I was practically counting up its price tag in my head.

Flynn’s fingers ghosted across my skin for a moment, making me shiver, before I felt him step away. I couldn’t explain how I knew, it was almost like I could feel the heat of his body moving away from me.

Letting my hair fall back down, I turned around. The look in his eyes was indescribable as he caught my gaze. I resisted the urge to bite my lip. He took another step back as if to allow me space to move.

“Shall we?” he asked. I nodded, moving from the room. I could feel him close behind me before we made our way downstairs to the dining room. I could already hear the chatter of all Hannah’s excited guests.

I was suddenly nervous about how many of them I’d know or not. As if he could feel my hesitation, I felt Flynn’s hand at the base of my spine, solid like a rock.

Like he was offering to be _my_ rock.

He stood at my side and gave me a nod, his lips in a hard line. This would be hard for him, too. And as much as I was nervous for what others would say if we walked in together, I’d rather not face it alone.

Fingers crossed that they’d all be too focused on the food to even register our arrival.

.

Fifteen minutes into dinner and I was sitting next to Flynn. The space on the other side of me was empty but the place was set, indicating that Flynn and I may not after all, have been the last to arrive. Hannah and Noah sat directly across from myself and Flynn, and her grandparents were on Noah’s left.

I’d been introduced when I sat down, but neither paid me much mind.

Flynn had not acknowledged their presence as of yet. In fact, he had mostly shied away from talking to anyone throughout the entire appetizer meal. I had managed to sneak one glance towards him, through the corner of my eye, but wasn’t going to risk anything more.

If anyone was confused as to why we’d walked in together, and why we were sat next to each other, they didn’t voice it. Even Hannah seemed oblivious to the situation she’d bred for us.

Looking down the table, I caught Flynn’s mother’s eyes on me for a single moment. Her eyes flit away too quickly for me entertain the thought of conversing with her.

Flynn’s mother had dark inky hair like he did, long and braided, twisting down her back and adorned with a few little garnishes here and there. She was wearing a ridiculously formal gold dress, something I’d have thought was straight out of a magazine or a red carpet.

Her skin was an unblemished bronze color, like she’d bathed in molten caramel before coming to dinner. Not for the first time, I wondered where Flynn got his good looks from.

His tawny eyes it seemed, were inherited from neither parent as they both sported deep brown eyes.

Flynn’s father was next to her, rigid and stoic as they come. He was wearing a suit so formal it was _almost_ a tux. His hair was a slightly lighter shade than his wife and son, but it was almost undetectable in this lighting. His skin was paler than his wife’s, and pasted to his skin as if there were no room underneath for an ounce of fat.

The man was the slightest I’d ever seen someone to be, especially a stark contrast in comparison to his son’s more filled out build.

His mother had introduced herself as Neema, and his father as Jonathon. Neema had eyed the necklace I wore with tight eyes but not said a word about it. I knew wearing it had been a bad idea. Jonathon barely acknowledged me other than to politely shake my hand.

They were as stiff as they come and I felt a twang of disappointment thrum through me that I couldn’t find it in me to try to impress them more. I was, after all, dating their son, unbeknownst to their granddaughter. They had not spoken a word to me since said introduction, leaving the conversation in Hannah’s capable hands. Hannah managed to steer it towards the wedding, discussing the dining placements for guests.

If Noah was uncomfortable surrounded on all sides by Hannah’s family, he didn’t show it – ever the gentleman.

My eyes fell to my food as Hannah talked across the table, not quite engaging my input at the moment. The appetizer was a simple soup, potato and leek, I think.

My interest was only pulled away from my food when I felt something on my leg. It took an entire second to realize it was Flynn’s hand. He squeezed my knee once and I took a peek at him through the corner of my eye. He looked pained, as if this dinner were hard for him.

I didn’t blame him.

If I was this uncomfortable under the hard stares of his parents, I had to have no idea how he was feeling. I was unable to engage his nerves, though. I couldn’t let Hannah catch on to us in any way.

I let my hand slide down my leg, my pinky finger brushing once softly against his hand. I bit my lip, hoping he’d understand that this was as much as I could give him.

From my peripheral, I saw him nod once before his hand slowly retreated from my skin, leaving a burning path in its wake. My skin felt on fire after that.

My attention was offered a small moment of reprieve when I saw a couple stumbling late into the dining room, their clothing visibly rumpled. My eyebrows creased as I watched the darker skinned girl and the man who looked a little like Noah, take their seats.

The girl was beside me, the man beside Hannah, answering the question of who was late to dinner. I saw a flash of hazel as the girl locked eyes with me, sheepishly. She had a hickey on her neck that she had done a terrible job at trying to hide.

Three guesses what they’d been preoccupied with before dinner. I chuckled inwardly as the couple pulled their chairs in. Nobody at the rest of the table paid them any mind, so I took it upon myself to use the girl as my distraction.

Her entrance was the most interesting thing I’d witnessed so far tonight, and conversing with a girl so daring as to put off dinner for sex far outweighed the option of trying and failing to talk to Flynn’s stuck up parents who seemed to make their minds up about me within the minute it took to shake their hands.

Hi,” I smiled, turning towards the girl. “I’m Kingsley, I’m Hannah’s maid of honor.”

The girl beamed a bright smile towards me as she tried to tame a few loose tendrils of her dark hair.

“Kaia,” she grinned. “It’s nice to meet you, I feel like your name has come up a few times in conversation the last few years. It’s nice to put a face to a name.” I smiled, nodding.

“Yeah? How do you know Hannah?”

Kaia grinned as her partner smiled at me.

“Ethan,” he introduced himself quickly, more occupied with consuming the food in front of him. I watched Kaia roll her eyes at her partner’s antics. My lip quirked slightly at hearing the same lilt in his voice that Noah had. Ethan’s was a little stronger than Noah’s, but it made me feel slightly more comfortable.

“Don’t mind my husband, his table manners have gone downhill ever since our daughter has eaten at the table with us. Uhh, well we’re not really from Hannah’s side of the family,” she finally answered my question. “Ethan is Noah’s cousin.”

“Oh,” I nodded.

“Yeah, Noah doesn’t have any siblings, so he and I practically grew up together,” Ethan chimed in. Kaia let out an exasperated sigh as she watched her husband eat.

“Smaller bites, babe,” she chided good-naturedly. “This is a _formal_ dinner, remember?”

Ethan just rolled his eyes at his wife. I grinned. These seemed like my kind of people. At least now I knew I’d have someone other than Flynn to talk to at the wedding when Hannah had to ditch me to entertain friends and family.

Kaia waved her hands in the air as if trying to control Ethan was a long-lost cause. I chuckled at them. I felt Flynn’s hand slide onto my knee again but I ignored it.

If he needed an anchor then I could be that for him, but I could also do it while having an easy conversation.

“So, yeah anyway, Ethan is one of Noah’s groomsmen. He’s in the wedding party and I’m not,” she pouted slightly before shrugging.

“Not the best man?” I joked. Ethan seemed to pout like it was an argument he’d lost a long time ago. His antics made me grin.

“Nah, he wouldn’t be able to handle someone better looking than him standing so close. Didn’t want to be upstaged, you know?” Ethan shrugged. “That’s why his med school friend is his best man instead of me.”

Kaia rolled her eyes.

“Don’t listen to him,” she waved him off. “He’s just butthurt about it, still. I think the groomsman title suits him, though. He doesn’t need any bigger of an ego than he already has.” I chuckled at them. Ethan looked like he was barely holding himself back from sticking his tongue out at her.

They were so obviously comfortable with each other. I wondered if Flynn and I could ever get to that stage. I wanted to be that close to him that I could joke about this kind of thing to strangers

“So, how long have you guys been together?” I asked.

Ethan looked up from his dinner, giving Kaia a wry look.

“Officially?”

I nodded.

“About four years,” Kaia answered. “But we met way back in college.”

I glanced at Ethan who smirked and pumped his eyebrows at me suggestively, backing up his wife’s statement. I chuckled as Kaia rolled her eyes. I had the feeling that if she’d been sitting next to him, she’d have elbowed him in the ribs for his behavior.

“Got pretty close back then if you know what I mean…” he smirked. I grinned, nodding.

“Gotcha.”

Kaia shook her head with a small smile. “Yeah, I don’t know how he convinced me to stick around so long now,” she grinned. “But I can’t imagine how boring life would be without him.”

Ethan’s eyes lit up at that statement and he sent his wife a sincere smile.

“What about you?” Kaia wondered. “A man in your life?”

I smiled, shaking my head once. I was glad that the tablecloth covered Flynn’s hand on my leg.

“No, I’m flying solo for now. I’ve been travelling through Europe for the last few years,” I said. “Never settled somewhere long enough to make that connection, you know?”

Kaia smiled, nodding. “That’s fair. Europe, though? That sounds amazing!”

I grinned, nodding. “Yeah it was. I feel like I stayed everywhere.”

Kaia grinned. “What brought you back to California?”

I shrugged. “I’d been away for a long time that it felt like the right time to come back,” I said. I didn’t feel the need to mention the reason I’d left the US in the first place, or even the real reason I was forced to come back. The fact that I’d had to come home with my tail shamefully between my legs because I was broke wasn’t exactly a topic I wanted to poach with Flynn’s parents within earshot.

“Plus, Hannah had been bugging me to come and help with wedding preparation, though admittedly I haven’t actually done much because she’s pretty self-sufficient,” I continued.

“You’ve known her a long time then?” Ethan chimed in. I grinned, nodding.

“Best friends since high school.”

Kaia smiled. “Oh, that’s so great! So, you know heaps about her then?”

I smiled. “I guess…?”

“Oh, that’s great! I’ve been tossing up on what to get the happy couple as a wedding present and would _love_ some input from someone who knows her better than I do.”

I smiled. I was great at picking Hannah gifts. “Oh, for sure.”

“So, what do you do now, then?” Ethan asked.

I smiled. “I manage a sort of vegan café and grocer in LA.”

“Oh, so you’re a business owner?” he asked, his eyes light. I could feel my smile getting tight but I held it on my face as I shook my head.

“Oh, no. I just manage the place full time,” I said. “You know, like keep an eye on the staff and the inventory and make sure everything is running smoothly.”

Kaia grinned, nodding. “That’s so cool.”

I smiled, nodding. Then I changed subject to focus on them, trying to take some of the heat off me.

“What about you guys?”

“Oh, we’re lawyers,” Kaia waved me off as if it were no big deal. Then she dug into her meal. My eyes widened.

“Oh, wow,” I said, not even trying to hide the impressed tone in my voice.

Ethan nodded. “Yeah, we own and run our own firm.”

This time, I couldn’t stop my jaw from dropping.

“ _And_ you have a daughter?” I asked incredulously. They weren’t much older than I was, so I couldn’t help my brain from wondering if I’d be able to take care of a child at this stage in my life. “How do you manage that?”

Kaia chuckled. “Not without difficulty. Do you want to see a picture of her?”

I smiled. “Really? Oh, absolutely!”

Kaia grinned, pulling out her phone and scrolling through a few photos until she came to the one she wanted. I smiled as I looked down at the little brown skinned girl.

She had brown curly hair framing her face and wore a faded purple Rapunzel dress that looked like it had seen better days. Her fingers were covered in different colored paints as she held them up to the camera with a big gapped smile.

“Her name’s Natalina,” Ethan chimed in. I lifted my eyes to meet his, noting the sheen of adoration that filled his features at the mere mention of his daughter. It warmed my heart.

“She’s adorable,” I grinned. Kaia smiled and put the phone away. “Where is she right now?”

Kaia shrugged. “Oh, she’s with a friend for the week, Ethan’s old assistant actually. Nattie took such a liking to him and we trust him so much that we’ve got no problem leaving her with him. She thinks it’s like a big extended holiday anyway.”

I grinned.

“Yeah, we figured this week would be as good as any to have a little time to ourselves,” Ethan agreed. “Seems like we haven’t had a second alone since she was born.”

Kaia rolled her eyes. I smiled.

“Well, if your friend ever needed a break, I would be more than happy to look after her for a few days if you guys needed it,” I offered. I don’t know what had sparked me to, maybe it was the way that Flynn’s hand on my knee had started stroking small little circles and igniting a flame inside me.

Kaia gave me a kind smile. “That’s a fantastic offer,” she said. “And one I would take up in a heartbeat, but we’re actually only here for the week. Unfortunately, we live in New York.”

“Oh,” I frowned. That disappointed me a little bit. I was looking forward to having another friend besides Hannah in LA who I could catch up with. I wiped the look off my face, though, not wanting either of them to feel bad. It wasn’t their fault we lived on opposite sides of the country. “That’s okay, then.”

Kaia smiled. “Hey, but if you’re ever in the Big Apple, don’t be afraid to look us up,” she grinned, then dropped her voice to a low whisper. “Besides, I have a feeling you’re going to be my best friend at this wedding. From what I know about Hannah, it’s going to be unnecessarily huge.” She rolled her eyes for emphasis and I chuckled.

Our conversation didn’t last much longer because Kaia’s attention was called on by Hannah as they discussed something to do with a pre-nup.

I turned my gaze back to my now-cold soup. I briefly wondered how long it would be until they brought out the main dish. Before I could give it too much thought, though, I was distracted by Flynn’s hand slowly climbing higher up my thigh.

Beneath the cover of the tablecloth, he pushed the material of my dress skirt slightly higher.

My breath hitched lowly and I couldn’t help but spread my legs for him. He let out a long breath beside me, letting me know that he was happy with my actions.

His fingers leaving a burning trail on the soft skin of my inner thigh had me squirming and trying not to clench my legs together.

Panicked, but trying not to show it, I glanced around the table to see if anyone was paying us any attention, but seeing as Flynn’s eyes were still on his food, no one paid us any mind.

I couldn’t help the stricken look that momentarily crossed my features when his fingers slid higher and he pressed one deft finger against my panty covered mound.

_Really? He wanted to do this now?_

I tried not to gasp as the slow circles he’d been teasing on my knee suddenly started against my clit. I wanted to clamp my legs together and stop him, but I couldn’t make myself do it.

I cursed myself for never being able to say no to him, I wanted it too badly…

Thanking my lucky stars and whoever set this table for allowing a fucking huge tablecloth to cover what he was doing to me, I tried to control my breathing as he slowly, teasingly, pushed me closer and closer to what I wanted – _needed_.

His other fingers worked on moving my panty to the side, and then suddenly he was pressed flush against me – skin to skin. I let out a long breath as he stroked against me, long and slow and so fucking teasingly.

My breath faltered for just a moment as he found a rhythm and my hips moved with him once. He stopped at that, his hand stilling as I got my body back under control.

My heartbeat thrummed beneath my skin as I realized that if he kept this up, I would be climaxing at the dinner table in front of all Hannah’s friends and family. And everyone would know what we’d done.

But his fingers between my legs, making quick work of turning me into a shivering, shuddering mess had my brain questioning whether this was even such a bad thing.

My lips parted minutely when his finger probed at my core, pushing in slightly so that just up to the first knuckle was buried within my folds.

Flynn continued to torture me, twisting and thrusting just that small part of his finger. My hips burned to undulate against his hand but I did not want to draw attention to us.

When he slid his finger home inside me, up to the hilt of his palm, I let out a long breath. My head threatened to fall back, my eyes dangerously close to fluttering shut, but I held firm against it.

If Flynn was trying to kill me, he was doing a great job.

When he added a second finger, drawing slowly from inside me and thrusting in deep and long, making it last seconds, I could have screamed and bucked against him. His thumb was still torturing my clit, bruising against it as he rolled it and circled it and nudged it.

If anyone were to cast their eyes over me, they’d see the panicked but aroused light in my eyes. There’s no way they could miss it.

At the third finger, enough was enough. My hand crept under the tablecloth and between my legs. It slid over his to hold him tight against me.

My breath hitched once as his fingers scissored inside me. My eyes widened when I realized that that might do it. That one action may have been my death sentence.

I could feel my orgasm thundering towards me. It was so close to rolling over me that I almost squeaked out in fear.

And then his fingers abandoned my core, leaving me hot and wanting. I sent Flynn a small glare, which he regarded from the corner of his eye with a smirk. I wanted to hit him for that.

I had been so fucking close and now my head was spinning with the effort not to fall apart.

Every small movement against my chair sent tiny tingles up my spine. I was more than on edge. Any movement of my pussy against my panty was going to make me cum. That’s how far to the edge that he’d driven me.

I had to cross my legs beneath the table to stop every minute movement from pulling me apart. I was so close to my high that it could have happened at any moment. And then I’d have died of embarrassment.

I was in half a mind to get up from the table and resign to my bedroom for the night so that I could take care of the mess Flynn had left me in. But we hadn’t even had our main meals yet, and I knew Hannah would only follow me upstairs and question why I wasn’t eating.

And I couldn’t very well tell her that I didn’t have the appetite to eat because her father had teased me to the edge of my climax while she’d sat across from me. I couldn’t do any of that, I was practically chained to this table for the rest of the meal.

And for that, I mentally cursed Flynn and his unbelievably skilled fingers. I was going to get him back for this.

I was going to make him regret the situation he’d put me in.

And then they served the main meals. My hands shook with the effort not to succumb to my climax as I forced myself to eat.

And at the taste of the beef tenderloin, I could finally let out a muffled and low version of the moan that had threatened to break through my lips as Flynn had stroked the inside of my core, reaching deeper and deeper until he hit just the right spot.

Damn him…

.

**Y’all aren’t ready…**


	14. Thirteen: In Which She Is Frustrated

**THIRTEEN: In Which She Is Frustrated**

**Kingsley**

Waiting for dinner to end was like pure torture. I could barely hold a conversation and everyone pretty much gave up talking to me because of it.

I made out like I was just super invested in my food.

I couldn’t very well tell everyone that my voice box was incapacitated because I was worried that if I made the move to speak, I’d end up moaning out of frustration for the position that Flynn’s skilled fingers had left me in.

I’d practically sprinted from the table to my bedroom the second it was appropriate, blaming my behavior on a migraine. Hopefully, that would stop everyone from coming to find me.

I needed to be alone… ASAP.

I all but slammed the door after I’d made it up the stairs and to safety. With a frustrated groan, my back fell against the door and I slid down onto the floor. My sensitive core ached to be filled, but only to be filled by the one person who I knew could give me what I needed.

And yet, I wouldn’t be able to have that and run the risk of everyone finding out.

I would be stuck in this horny state until the week was over and I could retreat to my apartment back in LA. Flynn had known exactly what he was doing to me tonight. He knew exactly what he was doing with his deft fingers and I cursed him for it.

My hands shook as I tried to reach up into my hair to pull it out until it fell freely. My legs shook as I tried to stand and make my way to the bathroom. A cold shower was all that would be able to help me right now.

Or at least, I hoped it would help me.

The bathroom floor tile was sending a freezing chill up my body through my feet, but I didn’t make an effort to turn the heat fan on. I’d risk hypothermia if it meant getting rid of the awful itch between my legs.

Slipping from the blue dress felt like an achievement after I’d battled for three entire minutes with the zipper. If there was anything in the world that could make you feel inferior, it was the ability of a garment of clothing to overpower you.

However, I did not let it win.

After some acrobatic flexibility that I’m sure all women have experienced while trying to squeeze into a pair of skinny jeans, I finally made it out of the garment.

The necklace was the next to go, before finally my underwear. My feet were numb by the time I stepped under the frigid shower spray, and the water really only made it worse.

My skin felt tight with pins and needles as it burned ice cold beneath the water. My fingers shook, the skin beneath my nails beginning to turn a blueish-purple as I scrubbed myself with soap and a loofah. My teeth were chattering by the time I turned the water back off.

I grabbed my towel, quickly wiping myself dry before I practically ran back into my room. I couldn’t help it now, I was rushing myself through getting dressed in a bid to get warm.

By the time I was huddled beneath my covers with my lips pursed together to prevent the shivering I knew was inevitable, I could still feel the inescapable throb at my core that confirmed my new temperature had not eradicated my arousal.

I was going to castrate Flynn for this.

I stayed in my bed like that for hours. And yet I couldn’t sleep. I had already resigned myself to the fact that I’d be getting little to no sleep tonight.

I laid awake long enough to hear when the other house guests moved to their rooms for the night. I laid awake long enough to see the light creeping in under my door be extinguished. Then I laid awake in my bed for another hour after that.

It might have been the longest hour of my life.

I tossed and turned in my bed, in a constant state of feeling like I was burning up from the inside out. The thoughts running through my head would have made a nun swear.

Flynn-centric thoughts no less… of course. Who else would they have been centered on in my current state?

Throwing my covers off my body with a sigh, I then pulled myself to my feet. Flynn was an asshole for the position he’d put me in tonight, but I would have been lying if I’d said I didn’t love every second of it. And now, the rational part of my brain had seemingly abandoned ship in the wake of my exhaustion, and I was running purely on absurdity.

It was absurd, what I was considering…

Well, not even just _considering_ … I had fully resigned myself to my decision. So, I shoved my feet into a pair of slippers and opened my bedroom door. In the darkness, I crept down the hall to one of the larger bedrooms that I knew Flynn was occupying.

Seeing as it was _his_ holiday home, it would have seemed odd if he weren’t residing in the master bedroom, or at least a suite alike to it. I didn’t even bother to knock on the door, I could see a sliver of light peeking through beneath the door anyway.

So, I let myself in.

The door widened easily. When I padded inside, Flynn looked up from his place on the bed where he’d been staring at the ceiling. There was something in his gaze that irked me. There was a fleeting moment of vulnerability there that I hadn’t been expecting.

It threw me off momentarily, like the time I’d walked out onto his balcony at his house only to uncover that he stayed up late at night to feed stray cats, among pondering the peacefulness of Los Angeles during the night.

But, just like that, the twinge of that sadness and confusion that had rimmed the edges of his irises upon my arrival disappeared from his gaze. Instead, now it was mixed with the self-assured, calm and collected gaze that I’d come to recognize as his normal.

His walls going up.

I didn’t miss the way he raised a singular eyebrow and the corner of his lips twitched upwards slightly as he watched me.

I glared at him as I shut the door behind me, leaning back against it and keeping a reasonable measure of distance between us. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to. I doubt I’d have heard him anyway, as my mind was a little preoccupied.

You see, he was currently without a shirt, giving me the opportunity to unashamedly cast my eyes over his unblemished skin that looked almost golden in the light of his bedside lamp.

When he crossed his arms over his chest, my eyes flicked to meet his. I kept up my glare as I felt my core send a shudder throughout my entire body.

When he crossed his arms like that, it advertised the muscles of his arms, making them bulge slightly more, as well as his shoulders and up to his neck, which seemed almost scultped by a deity or god of some sort.

If I hadn’t been so pissed at him for arousing me at dinner, my mouth would have watered. But… I was far past that stage.

I crossed my own arms over my chest, cocking my chin upwards. If he hadn’t caught on to my anger by now, he was blind.

He sighed as he gave me a once over, before his arms dropped. Then, my anger continued to bubble when he cocked his head slightly, beckoning me closer. I narrowed my eyes at him.

“I think it’s better if I stay across the room from you, actually,” I hissed. My core throbbed uncomfortably, as if disagreeing with me. I tried my best to ignore it, but that resulted in my nibbling at the inside of my cheek.

Flynn sighed.

“Especially if you’re intent on leaving me hanging again,” I continued, my whispered tone like a whip in his direction. Flynn rose an eyebrow at me in shocked recognition as if he hadn’t considered that my discomfort was the reason I was so mad.

That only made me angrier.

“Sorry,” he muttered. “I didn’t consider–”

“No. You didn’t,” I hissed, cutting him off. Flynn ran a hand through his hair as he pursed his lips. Then he let out a long breath as he watched me carefully. That vulnerability was back in his eyes. It was slightly different than before though, more faraway, like a lost memory that he’d been chasing.

“So… what?” he asked, dejectedly. “You’re here to get your… well, _that_?”

I rolled my eyes. “What do you think?”

Flynn sighed and then he was swinging his legs over the side of the bed. His elbows rested on his knees and his hands were in my hair. My eyes narrowed as I watched him.

Something was up.

“I’m sorry, Kingsley,” he muttered. “At dinner, I hadn’t meant that to go there… I just needed a distraction.”

I frowned. “ _Oh_ , so, that’s all I’m good for?” I demanded. “You didn’t consider the person that you were using as your _distraction_? Didn’t consider the situation you were putting me in? I’m a person, you know. You can’t just do that. You can’t just use people as you see fit to _distract_ yourself.”

Flynn lifted his head from his hands to give me a pained look. I kept frowning towards him. He shook his head once.

“I’m an asshole,” he muttered, I think more to himself than to me. “Yes. I mean, no, I didn’t consider it – you.”

I frowned but uncrossed my arms, straightening up against the door. Against my better judgement, his current state was distracting me from the throbbing in my pants.

I didn’t like the way that I was feeling. I didn’t like the look on his face – that pained and angry expression.

“You’re right, you _are_ an asshole,” I agreed. My voice was a little lighter now, letting go of my anger now that my need to find a release was retreating inside me. I was more focused on the… _otherness_ of his voice. How he looked faraway and it was reflected in his tone.

Detached.

Without warning, he lay himself backwards on the bed with his head in his hands.

I didn’t dare creep closer.

“It’s my parents,” he admitted. “Seeing them just brought up a bunch of shit I wasn’t ready to deal with…” I noted the steel in his grip on his hair, looking like he was close to pulling it from his head.

His muscles seemed to roll beneath his skin.

Fuck. _How was I supposed to remain angry with him when he said shit like that?_

I knew his relationship with them was rocky, for something to do with Hannah that I still hadn’t uncovered yet. There was so obviously a hint of trauma in that story that I was not privy to. How was I supposed to stay mad at him for something that I knew was out of his control?

Feelings like that don’t just go away, and those memories and thoughts plague the brain like an incessant virus.

I should know, I had a hard-enough time with the mention of my own parents. I don’t know what I would have done or how I would have reacted if I was suddenly presented with them before me.

My anger for him leaving me hanging could wait.

I bit my lip and moved closer. I didn’t even really realize it had happened, my feet carrying me across the carpet until I was sat astride him on the mattress.

Feeling the dip in the covers, he drew his hands away from his face, letting them glide to his chest where they rested on the rise and fall of his lungs. His eyes stayed closed though, as if daring to peek at me was too much.

His mouth was tight and his jaw was clenched.

He was in pain.

_Talk to me…_

Flynn sighed. “It’s not that easy.”

My eyes widened at realizing I’d whispered that aloud. Then I frowned. Before I could say anything, Flynn opened his eyes to watch me, before he rolled onto his side.

His head was propped up by one arm and the other hand was fidgeting with the duvet cover between us, smoothing it out before pinching it to crease it up. Rinse and repeat.

I bit my lip. He wasn’t ready to talk, so maybe I could fill the silence.

“I guess I can’t really blame you… I’d freak if I ran into either of my parents,” I said. “I’m talking, full on flight mode. You couldn’t keep me within a mile radius of them if you tried.”

Flynn’s gaze flicked to meet mine for just a moment and I watched him purse his lips.

“Do you hate them?” he asked after a while of our shared silence. I frowned in thought, considering it. Finally, I shook my head.

“I don’t think I ever could,” I said. “They made my home life uncomfortable, and for those last few years they prioritized fighting with each other over actually paying attention to me… but, I don’t think I could ever hate them. They’re still my parents, you know?”

Flynn nodded once. He fell silent again, and I didn’t insert myself in the conversation. It was obvious to me that he needed a moment to comprise what it was he needed to get off his chest.

I didn’t know how I knew. Maybe it was the minute crease between his brows, or the way his hand stilled against the duvet instead of fidgeting with it. Or maybe it was the intensity of his gaze on me. He was staring at something just above my eyeline as he avoided really looking at me… into me.

I liked that I could notice these things about him. Things I considered others wouldn’t know how to navigate.

“They barely said a word to me, tonight…” he finally muttered. I bit my lip. Then, I moved my hand slightly to push a strand of hair away from his eyes.

He watched me as I did it, this time it was my turn not to meet his gaze. The air between us seemed stagnant, at a stand still. I couldn’t explain it. My fingertips lingered against his skin when I brushed the strand and tucked it behind his ear.

His hand came up to link his fingers around my wrist, and then that’s when I looked at him. I mean, really looked at him.

I could see my own reflection in the pools of his eyes. So dilated that you couldn’t even really tell what color they were anymore.

“Did you want them to?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper as his finger stroked a fiery trail along the inside of my wrist. My thumb struck out to trace the length of his nose and down to his lips, caressing the soft pillows before moving down to grip his chin and tilt his gaze back to mine.

Flynn sighed.

“I don’t even know,” he finally said, his eyes still on mine. That sliver of vulnerability was back. Sadness flirting with the edge of his gaze like how the stars twinkle in the night sky.

“I think a part of me did,” he admitted. “But I can’t understand why…”

I frowned at him as his fingers stroked at my wrist again. I was burning up from the inside out, again. My flame had been extinguished when I’d walked into the room, but it was like he had the power to ignite it… to ignite me.

Burning lowly and almost out of light in solitude, but under his careful watch, I could have been a wildfire.

“Do _you_ hate them?” I asked, mirroring his own question. The sadness stars flirting at his gaze managed to swallow everything else in his eyes until they were pools of deep remorse.

“I think I used to,” he whispered. “I’m not so sure anymore, though…”

I didn’t say anything, just stared into his gaze and let him see my soul through my own.

“I thought that I always would, because what they put me through was unforgiveable. But I had always thought of my feelings for them to be my own… one sided. I had never considered that they might have cut ties with me, as well. I think there was always a part of me that believed that they might welcome me home with open arms if I chose to go running back,” he said. “But, tonight… I guess I saw them for what they are.

“They paid me no mind, as if I weren’t even someone worth talking to. As if they hadn’t raised me… As if what they did to Hannah and I, as if how they treated me – us – wasn’t even on their radar. They’ve just accepted their new roles as Hannah’s doting grandparents without consequence as if they hadn’t ignored her existence for twenty years.”

I couldn’t help the tear that slid from my eyeline down to my chin. Flynn frowned and sat up, using his free hand to swipe the tear from my face. My own hand slid from his chin to rest over his heart with a flat palm.

“I think I used to hate them, but after tonight, I don’t think I feel anything for them,” he whispered. “It’s obvious they cut me out of their lives a long time ago, I just guess I never realized that I might’ve done the same. I guess I always thought that the option to once more become the prodigal son was always there, but that flame was long ago snuffed out.

“The choice to have nothing to do with them was always that – a choice, on my part – and now it’s as if they’ve taken claim of that themselves and taken away my choice to ignore them by ignoring me. But, in doing that, they’ve ignored their part in my hatred for them in the first place. Like it was for nothing or like it never even mattered…”

I could feel him getting frustrated, if his heartbeat beneath my fingertips was anything to go by. With a pointed look, I moved my other hand to cup his face. He still held a grip on my wrist, light and scorching as I brushed my thumb over his cheek.

He was still leaving things out of the story, but that was okay with me. This was hard enough for him as it was.

With a sigh, his eyes closed as he leant into my palm. When he finally opened his eyes, my hand trailed down to his neck, where I pulled him closer to me. My self control could be damned as I pulled his lips to mine.

His eyes fluttered closed as mine did, and my fingers twisted in the curls at the base of his neck as my tongue invaded the seam of his lips. He tasted like spearmint toothpaste.

While I hadn’t planned to kiss him for long, he seemed to have other ideas. His hands found my waistline and he pushed me backwards until I was on my back. I could feel hot tears on my cheeks, and for once I couldn’t tell if they were mine or his.

I could tell he needed this, and the flame he’d ignited in me had travelled to my core. So, I needed this, too.

His weight was a welcome pressure against my body and I felt my nipples harden against his naked chest, through my sleep shirt.

Smoothing his palms up my sides, he took my shirt with him. I raised my arms above my head and he lifted off me, breaking the seal of our lips only to pull the garment from my skin.

Then my hands were back in his hair, pulling his lips back to mine as skin pressed to skin. Our breaths were harsh between kisses but I didn’t want him anywhere else but sewn to me.

His hands were back on my waist, squeezing my skin and my hips in a bid to get us closer together. A futile attempt, as there was no possible way we could be closer to one another, but my body responded accordingly.

I moaned breathily into his kiss as his tongue warred with my own. My eyes were clenched shut before I rolled us over, straddling his waist. I broke our kiss, moving my lips down his skin.

I dragged kisses across his décolletage and chest as my fingers dug into the sides of his waist. He groaned against me, letting me feel the reverberations through his chest. They made my lips tingle delectably.

He didn’t let me stay down there long before he was pulling my lips back to his. Then his hands were at my pants, pushing the easy elastic from my waist until I could kick them off. He rolled us over until I was on my back again. My legs were around his waist as he lost his pants, too.

Skin to skin, meeting moan for moan, my skin was singing. I could feel him against my core and I cried out when he sunk inside me, hard as a fucking rock.

We glided together like it was what we were made for, fitting together like the two final pieces of a 4000 piece puzzle. My grip on his hair was surely painful as we rocked against each other.

His lips were on my neck and at that spot right below my ear. His hands dug into my waist and my sides and my cupped my breasts and my ass and my legs as they wound around him.

My nails scraped down the skin of his back when he hit _that_ spot inside me. I cried out when he bumped against my clit, hot and fast and bruising. Hard enough to have me soaring towards my climax before I even had the chance to comprehend it.

Then he flipped me over before I had the chance to cum. He pulled my ass up and sunk into me, deeper than before, making me moan into the sheets. He held me by the hips as he slammed into me, making me see the stars that had flooded his pupils only moments ago.

My jaw locked open and my back arched as he got me closer and closer to where I needed to be. As if in tune with my body, he could tell when I was close, pulling me up so that my back was pressed against his front.

This angle was different than anything I’d tried. My legs were kind of behind me, so I was completely at his mercy as he thrust up inside me.

My head turned to capture his lips in mine but his pace didn’t slow up. One of his hands smoothed down my front until he met my sex. My hand met his and he splayed it across my skin, making me feel where we were joined together.

I mewled at the sensation of feeling him sink into me, deep and long, hearing how wet I was for him, and how easy it was for him to slide home inside me.

He reached for my other arm, guiding it to my own chest to pinch at my nipple. With a groan against my lips, his hand found my other breast.

Then his other hand came to rest at my throat. His grip didn’t constrict, it simply held me there. However, the realization that I was completely at his mercy in this position, and that he could tighten his grip on me at any moment sent a new wave of arousal through me.

My mind swum with the memory of how he’d teased me at dinner and I could feel myself racing towards my climax. Hard and fast.

His lips detached from mine and instead pressed themselves to the back of my head, burying in my hair as my eyes were clenched shut. Using two fingers to pinch at my clit, I knew I was so fucking close.

The clicking of the door handle didn’t register with me until it was too late.

“Hey, Dad, have you seen Kings–”

My eyes flew open at the voice cutting itself off. Then, with horror, I exploded with a cry at Flynn’s mercy as Hannah watched, her eyes wide with betrayal and her jaw touching the floor. My climax sprayed across the bed and I convulsed in Flynn’s grip, not able to break Hannah’s gaze as her eyes filled with tears.

In a flash, she was turning on her heel and fleeing from the room as Flynn let me go and I slumped forward onto the mattress.

When he pulled out of me, my eyes were wide with shock and one thought reverberated through my skull. I was fucked.

.

**Who saw it comin?**


	15. Fourteen: In Which She Tries To Explain

**FOURTEEN: In Which She Tries To Explain**

**Kingsley**

“Shit,” Flynn muttered behind me.

“Hannah…” I whispered, my voice broken. I couldn’t pay any attention to Flynn right now. My worst fears had just come true. Hurriedly, with wide eyes, I moved from the bed, pulling on my pants and shirt faster than I ever had.

Without looking back, I ran from the room. I had no idea which way she’d gone, but I knew if it was me, I’d be getting the hell out of dodge. The flight instinct was strong within me, and if I knew Hannah at all, she’d go somewhere to think.

Somewhere far away…

My feet carried me to the staircase faster than my brain could keep up. _But how the hell was I supposed to come close to finding her in this ginormous house?_

I tried the garage first, knowing that if it were me, my first instinct would be to run away. Sure enough, she was pulling herself into a car. I lurched forward, putting myself in the way so that she couldn’t shut the door. My hands were on the door and the car frame, physically holding it open so that she had to confront me. Hannah had tears streaming down her face and she wouldn’t meet my eyes. The scowl on her lips was enough to make me hate myself for what I’d done.

“If you do not move, I will slam whatever remaining body parts that are in my way, in the closing door,” Hannah said darkly, her voice barely audible. She met my eyes with the fiercest glare that she’d ever levelled me with. It shot straight through me like a bullet-wound.

I’d never seen such passion from her, and it cut me up inside to know that I’d marred her beautiful face with an expression that could only be described as someone trying to twist solid rock.

“Hannah, please just listen to me–” I tried, but with one shake of her head, she cut me off.

“No. You shut up! You do not get to say anything to me right now.”

My lips parted in exasperation as I tried to hold onto the door, but she was too strong. There were tears streaming down my face too, to match hers. I was pried away from the vehicle, having to take a step back to steady myself. Before she could fully close the door, she set her eyes on me again through the tinted window.

They flashed with a hurt that struck my heart.

“I don’t even want to know how long you’ve been fucking my dad. You are a foul, disgusting, and sorry excuse for a best friend,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper and sharp enough to cut glass. “Do not _ever_ speak to me again. We’re done.”

“Hannah, please–”

She didn’t listen, she slammed the door closed and started up the car. I hadn’t even noticed the garage door opening until it was wide enough for her to screech through.

Then she was roaring down the street before I could even comprehend it. I wrapped my arms around myself, whether from the unseasonable chill that was filtering through the open garage door, or from the fact that my heart had been ripped from my chest when she’d left.

I had known this was going to happen. If not tonight, then she would have found out about my relationship with Flynn at some point.

And I hated myself for having given in to my sex drive – given in to _Flynn_ – just to spite the voice in the back of my head that cautioned me it was wrong all along.

_How could I have been so stupid as to willingly put my longest friendship in jeopardy just for some good sex? Had it been worth it?_

No. It hadn’t. Not if the heartbroken and betrayed look in Hannah’s eyes was anything to go off.

She couldn’t very well cut Flynn out of her life for this, he was her father after all, and the only family who had been there for her since the very beginning. She would forgive him eventually.

But me? There was no chance for me. She was done with me. I’d known Hannah long enough to know that when she said she was ‘done’, she fucking meant it. What’s worse is that I wasn’t just some friend she’d made in college, I was a childhood friend, which to Hannah, meant everything.

It meant that I’d been around to witness and guide her through all of the heartache and confusion over how her father expressed his love for her. I’d been her confidant when she needed to vent about him or when she felt ignored by him.

It meant that my betrayal was more than just a friend going behind her back on some silly little thing. It was as if one of the closest people to her had worked their way through her walls to find her biggest insecurity, the reason for her lack of self esteem over not feeling like she’d ever been enough, and then they’d exploited that insecurity for their own benefit.

I’d actively ignored Flynn’s very real part in all of Hannah’s sadness as she’d tried for years to get close to him in a way no one else could. She’d tried for her entire life to break down _his_ walls. And here I was, waltzing in and getting closer to him and learning more about him and tying strings to him in ways she could never achieve.

Her betrayal would be felt through my ability to get to know his soul when she’d never even been given a chance.

It was unfair.

And I was the biggest asshole that the world had ever seen.

‘Asshole’ wasn’t even a strong enough word to describe my ultimate disloyalty. I couldn’t even think of a word to label myself and how my actions would hurt her and open up wounds that had long ago been either healed or forgotten.

The two seconds it had taken her to open that door and cast her eyes over the two of us in the throes of orgasm – the two of us who were arguably the closest to her, and knew her soul the most, outside of Noah – were enough to destroy the only connection I’d held that meant the most to me in my entire life. Those two seconds were all it took to annihilate a connection that was over twenty years old.

Hannah was my oldest relationship. My soulmate in life. And I had _ruined_ her. In _two seconds_ no less.

I had ruined her and I had ruined us, and by extension, I’d even ruined Flynn and I – whatever that had been, or could have been…

The chill from outside was radiating through my body, up through my bare feet on the concrete floor of the garage. The cars surrounding me did nothing to shield me from the cold as I sunk to the floor and buried my face into whatever crevice would accept me.

And then I wept.

Wept for my stupidity and my choices and my loss, which would be nothing compared to Hannah, because I knew deep down that this was solely all my fault.

I had pushed myself into Flynn’s orbit and forced him to know me, and in turn forced him to let me know him. I had lied to Hannah day after day and let it happen for months because I was scared of exactly this – her leaving me with no indication of returning. I had made the decision to go to Flynn tonight.

Sound of mind.

Everything was all my fault and I didn’t deserve Hannah – I never had. And I didn’t deserve her father.

Whether knowingly or not, I had knitted myself into the Forbes family, trying to tie myself to something to avoid the pressures and forces of my own life. I had manipulated myself into their lives and I deserved every bit of hatred that they threw my way.

I only lifted my head when I heard footsteps behind me, and a hand come to my back to stroke at my skin. I leapt away from the familiar touch, holding my arms between Flynn and myself to keep my distance.

“Please, don’t touch me,” I begged through hoarse sobs. I registered the momentary glint of hurt in his gaze before he held his hands up in surrender. When he opened his mouth to speak, probably to reassure me that Hannah would be back by morning and she just needed some time to shake it off, I held up my finger to cut him off before he could even begin.

Because, he was wrong. He didn’t see the tears in her eyes and the betrayal curling at her lip and hear the acid tone of her voice that struck me to my core.

He didn’t see the way that what I’d done had ripped her apart.

Hannah would not be back. At least, not while I was here. I’d be lucky if I ever caught a glimpse of her ever again.

“Please, don’t,” I choked out, not even really knowing what I was protesting anymore. His words? His gestures? His reassurance? His touch? “I _can’t_ …” My hand came up to cover my mouth at those last words and then I turned and fled.

I needed physical distance between us. I needed the indifference that I should have felt for him the moment Hannah had dropped me at his front door all those months ago.

I could not be around him right now, knowing that I’d destroyed everything just because I’d wanted to know who had planted that seed of hurt in his gaze and his voice.

I cursed myself for not being able to let it go, because now it had become my undoing.

My feet carried me back up to my bedroom where I locked the door and flung myself onto the mattress to cry my heart out.

.

**Any guesses where Hannah has gone?**


	16. Fifteen: In Which She Goes To The Emergency Room

**FIFTEEN: In Which She Goes To The Emergency Room**

**Kingsley**

It had been midnight when I’d thrown myself out of bed, knowing that my locking myself in my room to weep wasn’t doing anything productive. Hannah was still out there, probably with no phone or way to contact anyone.

So, I’d rushed to her room and woken Noah, giving him the short version of what happened – that Hannah had fled the house and no one could find her. Noah, ever the gentleman, didn’t ask questions about what had made her leave, and instead jumped into helping me call every person who’d been at dinner who wasn’t staying in the house.

We set ourselves up in the dining room so as not to disturb anyone who was still sleeping. My hair felt ragged from the number of times I’d ripped my fingers through it as each person I called woke up confused only to assure me that _no,_ _Hannah’s not here._ Shit. _Do you need help searching._ No, we’ve already got a few people looking around here. _Okay, well, do let us know when she reappears._ Yes. Okay.

My head was close to resting on the table when I heard faint footsteps behind me. Noah announced his arrival, I didn’t turn around. When Flynn stood in the doorway, I ignored him. I knew it would hurt too much to look at him. Noah, however, made a big show of being relieved when he showed up.

He thought Flynn would know where she’d possibly could have gone.

“I’ve called all her friends who couldn’t make it this week who stayed in the city, and nothing!” Noah was becoming more frantic with each passing minute that Hannah was still missing.

He still wasn’t privy to the real reason she’d fled. I had managed to calm him down momentarily when he was in the middle of a panic attack, thinking that she’d gotten cold feet and run off. I’d assured him that she loved him and that her running away had nothing to do with him.

“What do you mean? How could it not?” he had pleaded with a broken voice.

I sighed. “It was my fault. She and I had a misunderstanding – an argument – and she left before I could explain. I’ve really hurt her and she ran off in a tizzy and I’m afraid she’s going to hurt herself somehow because she was so upset she won’t be thinking clearly,” I said, my voice small.

Then Noah had wrapped me in a hug that I didn’t deserve, comforting me with the easy stroke of his palm down my back and the reassurance of ‘I’m sure whatever happened wasn’t as bad as you both think. Let’s just focus on finding her and figure that stuff out later, yeah?’

Easier said than done. Noah’s words were reassuring, but there was a twinge in his tone that gave away his worry.

And so, as we’d had no luck, when Flynn made his presence known in the dining room, Noah had barraged him with questions about where she could have gone.

“Would she go back to LA?” he asked, frantic. “Maybe to her old apartment? Or back to her family home? Would she stay with friends? Is there anywhere that gives her comfort that she might have gone to that you’d know about that I wouldn’t?”

I finally turned around to face the two men, momentarily meeting Flynn’s eyes for a moment before hastily pulling them away. It hurt too much to look at him, knowing what we’d done and how it had betrayed Hannah.

Feeling Flynn’s eyes on me, I settled my gaze on the back of Noah’s shirt. I could see his stress in the way his shoulders were tight beneath his pajama shirt. His bare feet clung to the floor like he’d tip over if he wasn’t careful.

Flynn put a hand on Noah’s shoulder and squeezed to calm the man down.

“Easy there, son,” Flynn said, his low voice sounding tired and tight. The walls were back up. I shouldn’t have felt the twist in my gut at that realization. Shouldn’t have felt sadness that he was going back to his stoic self. Shouldn’t have felt hurt that after all this time getting him to break his walls down, they were so easy to put back up, like my effort had been for nothing. I bit the inside of my cheek as I stewed.

 _Focus! This is about Hannah!_ I shook myself out of it.

“Have you called Neema and Jonathon,” Flynn asked, hatred biting at his tone as he spoke his parent’s names. Noah shook his head.

“No, I don’t have their contact information. Everything is on Hannah’s phone,” he said mournfully. “Wait!” he turned to me. “Did she take her phone with her? Could we track her with it?”

I looked up, biting my lip. “No, she was just wearing pajamas… I don’t know if she took her phone.”

With a sudden burst of energy, Noah called out a ‘wait here!’ before he was dashing upstairs to search for his fiancée’s phone in their room, leaving Flynn and I alone in on opposite sides of the dining table but feeling like there was a canyon between us.

He had put up his walls, but hadn’t I done it, too.

“Kingsley–” he tried, but it took only one shake of my head and a pained look through my glassy eyes to shut him up and cut him off. This was my fault.

I had to fix this.

Even if it meant giving up the one person who had ever meant anything to me, aside from Hannah. I had to do this for her, because I couldn’t do anything _without_ her. She meant too much to me. I loved her too much.

Thankfully, Noah came screeching back down into the room before Flynn and I had to suffer through too much more tension.

“She left it here,” Noah said, his voice having lost some hope. “Her phone, I mean… So, we can’t use it to find her directly, but at least we can call a few more people. So, Mr. Forbes, how about you call your parents; Kingsley, you and I can split the other guests from tonight whose numbers are on Hannah’s phone?”

I was about to agree before Flynn spoke up.

“Actually, Noah, I think it might be best if you’re the one to call Hannah’s grandparents,” he said. He held up a hand when Noah’s lips opened to protest out of confusion, before realization dawned on the man’s face, followed by a flush at the base of his neck.

“Right,” he said, understanding. Hannah must have told her fiancé _something_ about her father’s relationship with her grandparents. “Sorry about that. Well, you two can split the dinner party guests then.”

I nodded absently, not meeting either of the men’s eyes, no matter how much I could feel Flynn’s burning into my skin.

Noah started to write out a bunch of names and numbers from Hannah’s phone onto a piece of paper so that we’d have something to work with.

By two in the morning, we’d still not seen nor heard hide or hair of Hannah. Noah was close to a breakdown. He’d already muttered to himself before about how long a reasonable wait was before filing a missing person’s report. He hadn’t meant for me to overhear, but it brought a fresh wave of tears to my eyes that wished to spill down my cheeks.

I could hardly blame him though. He was practically in the dark about his missing fiancée, but I couldn’t find it in me to spill the truth to him about Flynn and I. It was too inappropriate a time to tell him that Hannah had run away because she’d walked in on us having sex.

He didn’t need to be trying to process that pairing when all he really needed to focus on right now was finding Hannah.

When the doorbell rung at two fourteen in the morning, the three of us lifted our heads in synchrony. Triplet looks of confusion were plastered across our features. Noah was the first to come to his senses and he bound from his chair to the front door before whoever it was could ring the doorbell again and wake up the rest of the household.

Hoping to see Hannah on the doorstep, having just forgotten her keys or something, Noah flung the door open. However, the person standing there _definitely_ wasn’t Hannah.

The man thrust his hand forward for Noah to shake as Flynn and I walked up behind him. I noted to badge on the man’s breast, his uniform, his hat, and the flashing red and blue lights behind him.

My mind was running with a million possible scenarios as to why a police officer was standing on our doorstep, but my heart was in my feet.

“Morning, I’m Deputy Benson,” the officer said gruffly. “Is there anyone at this residence with a relation to Miss Hannah Forbes?”

Noah answered faster than I’d seen him trip over his own feet before.

“Yes, she’s my fiancée,” he said hurriedly. The officer grimaced at his admission. “Is she with you? What happened to her?” Noah rushed, panic rising in his voice. I reached forward to squeeze his hand to calm him down, but it was my pulse that was thrumming in my ears, loud like a thunderstorm and all consuming.

“I’m sorry to inform you that Miss Forbes was in an accident on the 210 at twelve oh seven this morning. There was a registration identification found within the vehicle upon arrival that led other officers to a home in Los Angeles. Upon finding no one at the house, the officers called our department to check out this address as map directions and an itinerary were found in the passenger seat of the vehicle.

“Miss Forbes was found by emergency services and escorted to hospital in an ambulance for her injuries. She was conscious enough to provide her name and details at the time.”

My hand was over my mouth as my eyes widened. Noah seemed in shock. I felt Flynn’s eyes dart between the two of us before he turned to the officer.

“Hannah is my daughter,” he said. “Is she okay?”

The officer grimaced.

“It seems that she did not account for this cold snap weather while driving,” he said. “The road was icier than expected and she ran off the highway into a light pole. It was also evident that she had neglected to wear a seatbelt, as her body broke through the windshield upon impact.”

I let out a horrified gasp, unable to hide my surprise. Hannah was the most careful driver I’d ever known. This was my fault. I had driven her to do this. My betrayal had caused her to abandon safety.

“Upon initial investigation by emergency services at the scene, she sustained injury to the cranium, facial region, and sternum,” Benson continued. “However, as this was only the initial assessment for harm, it is entirely possible that she has other injuries also. Her vehicle has been taken to the impound lot and scheduled for demolition. This will only take place after speaking with your insurance provider, but know that from this moment, the car is totaled and cannot be fixed.”

Noah managed to nod but I could see he was two seconds away from falling apart.

“Where is she now?” Noah asked, his voice pained like he was holding back tears. “Can we see her.”

“Immediate family only,” Benson nodded. “Miss Forbes was taken to Cedars-Sinai hospital. I’m sorry to deliver this news to you.”

Noah nodded and Flynn extended his hand to the officer. “Thankyou for informing us, Deputy Benson,” Flynn said, his voice gruff. The officer nodded, his lips pinned in a hard line before he turned back to his vehicle and drove away.

Noah collapsed to the floor. It broke me to see him like this, the relief at finding Hannah, but the unmistakable pain that she was hurt and in hospital. I crouched down and wrapped my arms around him.

“I’m so, so sorry, Noah,” I said, my voice broken. “This is all my fault, I’m so sorry.”

Noah turned and wrapped me into a hug and we cried together. This _was_ my fault. I had done this to her. I had done this to Hannah, and now she was in the Emergency Room because of me.

The next half hour passed in a blur as Flynn walked away to gather his and Noah’s things, shoving them into bags. Then they were walking out the door to go and visit Hannah. I had no idea if Flynn would go into the hospital with Hannah, but all I knew is that I wouldn’t be welcome.

I snagged Noah’s arm as he was walking out to the car, seemingly in a daze. “Hey,” I managed to get out. Noah had a dead, hopeless look in his gaze that made me want to fall apart all over again. “Keep me updated on her, yeah?”

Noah softened a moment, biting his lip as he nodded and pulled me into an embrace.

“Of course, Kingsley. Please don’t torture yourself over this, because it wasn’t your fault,” Noah said. I didn’t meet his eyes until he pinched me. “Hey. I’m serious. You can’t blame yourself for this, okay? Let’s just count our lucky stars for now that she’s okay. I’m sure she’ll get over whatever your argument was about. I’ll let you know when visiting hours are open?”

I grimaced, biting my lip and not trusting myself to reply with words because he didn’t know how wrong he was. Hannah would never get over it. She’d never forgive me for this. I nodded at Noah, who sighed and pulled me into a quick hug again before walking away and shoving his bag in the car.

They left in a hurry, and Flynn didn’t say a single word to me. Not an utterance, not even a glance thrown my way.

With tears clouding my vision, I watched them reverse in the driveway in Flynn’s sleek car. Then when their taillights were nothing but dots in the distant darkness, I carried myself upstairs to my room and used my phone to call an Uber.

I didn’t care how much it would cost me, but I needed to get out of here. I needed to get out of this place and go somewhere that was mine. I needed to go home. I needed to be alone.

I shoved my shit into my bags, glad that I really hadn’t had any time to unpack anyway. And then I was out on the front porch, freezing my ass off as I waited for my ride.

All I could hope for now was that Flynn was smart enough to know I didn’t want him to contact me. I needed to forget about him – about us. For Hannah’s sake. I had ruined her enough already…

.

**Seems I can’t go _one_ story without someone landing in the hospital smh**


	17. Sixteen (pt1) : In Which She Regrets Everything

**SIXTEEN PART ONE: In Which She Regrets Everything**

**Kingsley**

I buried myself in work. I didn’t know what else to do, really. 

I hadn’t had a day off in all three of the weeks since that night at Big Bear. Noah – bless him – had been keeping me updated on Hannah’s condition via text, even though I could never bring myself to reply.

I was thankful for his commitment, though.

He still didn’t understand our argument, if his calls that remained unanswered on my phone were anything to go off. He didn’t understand how I couldn’t want to visit her.

Well… I was too busy. And I knew Hannah had been serious when she’d said she never wanted to lay eyes on me again. She didn’t take that kind of thing lightly, and it didn’t matter if it had been said in anger or what – she meant what she said.

So, I’d stayed away…

I’d stayed away from her, from Noah – and from Flynn.

It was for the best.

The first week had been hell. I’d cried myself to sleep every night. The second week, I’d felt hollow, like someone had carved something the size of a pumpkin out of my chest, leaving a hollow cavity behind.

Water left my throat dry. Food tasted like cardboard – it didn’t matter what it was that I was eating.

I felt the loss of my best friend in the ache of my legs as I got out of bed in the morning. I felt the loss of her in the heaviness of my head as I brushed the gums out of my mouth. The sting of the pain was the only thing I could register anymore – whether it was the too hard brushing, or the splinters in my fingers from moving crates of whatever at work.

My body was running on empty, but I couldn’t find it in myself to do anything about it. The moisture I’d expelled from my body from crying so much hadn’t replenished itself. I’d exhausted myself. And yet, I still showed up to work every day.

My sleep was ruled by the almost empty canister of melatonin pills that sat alone atop my bedside table. Yesterday, I had tripped over two empty vodka bottles on my way to the bathroom.

The red rings around my eyes had prompted Lisa – my chef friend from the _Hemporium_ – to inform me that I looked like I’d smoked an entire key of weed, but without the happy high aftertaste. I think _Depressed Zombie_ were the words she used…

Then, even though _I_ was the manager, she sent me to inventory duty so that no customers would lay their eyes on my sad appearance.

I was pretty sure I was wearing all my clothes backwards that day.

 _How many days ago had that been?_ I couldn’t have been sure.

The third week was much of the same blur, and my bank account protested that day’s trip to the small liquor store on my way home from work. The cashier had raised a wary brow at me when I’d been able to settle the amount owed with a few random bills and quarters that fell from the apron pocket I still wore.

I couldn’t even bring myself to feel guilty that I’d borrowed the apron from someone else on shift today – because I’d been air-headed enough to leave my own at home – and that this was probably their money.

I didn’t care, because that bottle of vodka was calling my name.

Hobbling home with it, I managed my way up the stairs to my apartment. My nose wrinkled when I opened the door. Normally, I probably wouldn’t have noticed, but my senses seemed hyperaware from my lack of having fed myself.

The air was stale, probably because I hadn’t opened a window since I’d been back. The dishes were piling up on the sink. I ignored them as I moved to sit at my small window-seat, unscrewing the lid to the bottle as I walked.

My head leant against the window as I sipped, grimacing at the taste on the way down.

In the back of my head, I knew it was unproductive to wallow this way – letting myself become dependent on the bottle between my fingers. I knew that I wasn’t helping myself – or anyone – by barely eating and instead choosing to drown in my sorrow and my loss.

But I couldn’t help it.

The small voice that was always in the back of my head, second guessing the bad decisions I made – the one that hadn’t shut up while I’d been going behind Hannah’s back – well, that voice was gone.

Instead replaced with a gluttonous voice that forced me to think everyone else deserved to get fucked. Fuck off.

Selfish.

That’s what I was being, but I couldn’t bring myself to stop. That voice had taken over inside my head, and my behavior was feeding it, fattening it up like a pig for the slaughter until it was spilling out my ears.

That voice grabbed a hold of my limbs like that rat chef in that one movie. It pulled me in directions I didn’t think I’d ever have been capable of. It forced the smoke of shame cigarettes into my lungs when the drink and the pills stopped feeling like enough.

That voice was on a mission to destroy me… and I was _letting it_. Because I deserved it.

I had destroyed my friend, so why not destroy me, too? I wasn’t any good to anyone like this anyway.

And the clincher was that, I really kind of _did_ deserve to be punishing myself this way. For what I’d done, I should end up in Hell – the burning-and-perishing-and-screaming-and-facing-your-sins-every-day-in-an-endless-cycle kind of Hell. The kind that was supposed to teach you a lesson, a lesson you should have learned from while you were still alive, but now you can’t because you’ve been doomed to suffer forever for your ways.

The decisions I’d made over the last few months had been of sound mind. I’d known the consequences of every action I made, of every night in Flynn’s bed. And I’d done it anyway.

The first time I’d been with him, I’d basically thrown away my relationship with Hannah. I’d done it to myself.

 _And for what?_ For nothing? To feel this way?

I should have known that I would end up here.

.

The knock at the door surprised me.

No one that I cared about would have the nerve to visit me. Or the _want_ to.

Having been forced to take a ‘mental health’ day from work, I was without tips or enough cash to wallow in a drink again today, so I’d just been sitting at my window-seat again, watching Los Angeles go about its business like usual.

The hustle and bustle of the people who worked every day to make something of themselves.

I lifted my head from the window, hating the pumping in my ears at the slightest movement. With shaky eyes, I set my gaze on my front door with a frown, just _begging_ it to try that shit again. I must have imagined the sound. So, I ignored it.

It was probably a neighbor.

I resigned myself to the silence and pressed my forehead back to the glass with a sigh, liking the way that my breath fogged the window for just a moment before it disappeared. If only life’s problems could disappear as quickly…

The sudden pounding against the door made me jump up from my seat so fast that I fell to the floor in a sprawling mess. My eyes flew open as pain spiked through my ankle and my hands splayed out to catch my fall so that my heavy head didn’t smack against my unvacuumed floor.

I allowed myself a single second to comprehend what the fuck had just happened, but was pulled to my feet by the constant thumping against the door. Whoever was on the other side – the asshole – didn’t let up.

With a wince, I took a shaky step on the ankle that I had most definitely just sprained, and made a hasty beeline for my door handle. I practically reefed it open with a scowl.

The expression was lost on the person before me, though.

“I’m over this shit, now. You’re grown women. Get in the car.”

I leant against the door frame as my eyes swum in front of me. Noah was standing with his hands on his hips as he glared down at me. I’d never seen him like this.

“No,” I deadpanned, and made a move to close the door in his face. He was too quick for me, though. I blamed my foggy brain for my slow reflexes. He stuck his foot in the crack of the door and his hand was against the wood, fingers splayed apart as he pushed it open.

I sighed and stepped back, turning away and walking back to my window-seat to curl up on it. I left the door open – an open invitation if you will. Noah followed me inside. He didn’t move much further than a few steps inside though as he surveyed the landscape with a wary glance, his eyes roaming.

“You smell like a bar, did you know?” he mused as he glanced at the pile of relatively clean laundry on my sofa. I gave him a look from the side of my eye as I went back to leaning against the window.

I could feel Noah watching me as he leant his hip against my kitchen counter and crossed his arms over his chest.

He sighed when he realized I didn’t plan on moving. “I’m serious, Kings. Whatever the hell happened between you two, Hannah won’t tell me shit. She’s been on bedrest at home for weeks, which I know you know because you opened my messages and left me on fucking _read_.”

I sighed against the window, watching it fog again.

“I don’t understand why you won’t visit her…?”

I bit my lip. I didn’t have any tears left to cry – they’d dried up weeks ago.

“She doesn’t want to see me.”

“Bullshit!” Noah blurted out, exasperated. It was the desperation and confusion in his tone that made me look up. I’d never seen him explode like that. Actually, come to think of it, I’d never heard him curse before, so this conversation was a new vibe to me.

I frowned at him.

“You can’t say that. You don’t know what I did,” I muttered. Noah gave me a pleading look, but I just shook my head. “Trust me,” I said. “Hannah told me she doesn’t want to see me, and I believe her. I wouldn’t want to see me, either.”

Noah sighed. “And so, you think that drinking and smoking is a way to cope with that?”

I glared at him, hugging my knees where I sat. Noah shrugged.

“I called your work to find you because you wouldn’t answer the phone. They told me what’s been going on with you.” The sympathetic look in his eyes was too much for me and I couldn’t handle his pity – I didn’t even come close to deserving it.

“For now,” I shrugged. Noah sighed, reefing a hand through his normally perfectly and neatly styled hair. Actually, now that I looked at him properly, he was in a much more disheveled state than I’d ever seen him.

His shirt was un-ironed. He had mismatched socks on. One of his shoes was untied.

“Did you get run over by a bus on your way here?” I rose a quizzical eyebrow at him, standing up. Noah flushed and looked down at himself.

“I could say the same about you,” he retorted haughtily. I shrugged. I didn’t care what I looked like. “I was in a rush,” he defended. “Hannah thinks I’m grocery shopping and the store is only two minutes from the house. I’ve already been gone longer than she expected just to get over here, so, get in the car.”

I shook my head, steeling him with a glance. “I won’t.”

Noah looked at me pointedly. “You’re coming with me, even if I have to drag you there.”

At my silence, he took a step forward in warning. Upon reflex, I took a step back. Noah frowned and stopped moving.

“Look, Kingsley, whatever happened – and I’m serious about this – Hannah will forgive you for eventually. I can’t tell you the amount of chances she’s given me…”

I frowned at that, curious. I shook my head and Noah held up a hand to shut me up.

“She needs you, Kingsley. I know she does,” he pleaded. “You’re her best friend. She’s in a worse shape than you right now, and _that’s_ saying something.”

I frowned at him, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Hannah made it clear–”

“Well, then do it for me!” he cut me off. “If you won’t do it for her, then do it for me. I can’t bear to look at Hannah go through this alone anymore. There’s only so much that I can offer her…”

My bottom lip trembled. Noah took steps closer to me until he stood right in front of me.

“I’ll just make it worse…” I hated how small my voice was. Noah just shook his head, wrapping me into his arms. I didn’t hug him back. The comfort was unmerited.

“You won’t know that until you come with me.”

.

He convinced me to change and go with him. I didn’t know how he did it. Maybe I just didn’t want to hear his voice break like that again like it did in my apartment.

So, there I was, in a pair of sweats that were slightly cleaner than the pair I’d worn in my living room. They were the first pair Noah hadn’t screwed his nose up at, so I figured they were fine.

He almost had to force me out of the car when we made it into their driveway.

Hannah’s house was a single story, but the height of the ceilings would have convinced you otherwise, so it made it seem larger and more imposing than ever.

It was the first time I’d ever been there. Overwhelmed was a word I’d definitely use.

Noah led me through the house until we stood outside a closed door I assumed opened into the master bedroom. Noah gave me a reassuring look, but it didn’t unclench my hands at my sides. I could feel the grinding of my teeth in the base of my skull, giving me a headache at the pressure I put onto my teeth.

He knocked twice on the door and then opened it and stood out of the way so that I would be the first face Hannah saw.

When her tired eyes met mine, I saw the flash of hurt and anger there.

“What the _fuck_ is she doing here?”

Hannah’s voice was low and murderous as her gaze slipped up to meet Noah’s behind me. I turned my head slightly to see him shake his head in defiance.

“Suck it up, I don’t want to hear it,” he said. “I’m sick of the both of your wallowing. I’m locking you in until you figure your shit out and forgive each other.”

Hannah’s eyes widened and she moved to get up but he held up a finger.

“If you dare move from that bed, I’ll sleep on the couch,” he warned. Hannah glared a hole into his head, but to her credit, stayed where she was. Then Noah turned to me, gave me one nod before he scurried from the room.

I didn’t hear any lock click, but I didn’t doubt he’d follow through on his threat if either Hannah or I tried to get out of this conversation.

As soon as the door was shut, I moved my gaze back to catch Hannah’s. She was already staring at me, the dark circles around her eyes making her look like a psychopath. Though, it could have also been the sneer on her lips and the way she gripped at the sheets that made me think she wanted nothing more than to kill me where I stood.

I wanted to kill me, too.

We stared at each other in silence for minutes that I couldn’t even count. She didn’t want to hear an explanation from me. And I couldn’t give one to her that would make any of this better.

Eventually, with tears in my eyes, I sank to the floor and curled myself up out of her eyeline. I hugged my knees under my chin and leant against the wall, trying to stifle my sniffles so that Hannah didn’t have to hear me cry.

This was my fault anyway, why should she have to be subject to the aftermath of what I’d done to ruin us?

I don’t know how long we stayed in silence where we couldn’t see each other. Long enough for me to watch the sunlight travel from one part of the wall to the ceiling as it sunk in the sky.

“Do you love him?”

Her voice was barely a whisper, but it still shocked me that it was _her_ voice that cut across the ravine between us. Let alone asking what it was asking.

I didn’t know how to respond to that. I didn’t know how she’d react and I didn’t want to piss her off even more than I already had.

Which answer to that question would cut deeper than the other? Were either answer able to give me my friend back? Probably not.

Hannah had no doubt spent weeks thinking about it – my answer. Maybe that was why it was the first thing she said. Maybe my eventual answer would be either my saving grace, or the final nail in my coffin.

It could make or break me – _us_.

But, how was I supposed to answer that? Love was a big concept, more than just black and white, more than yes or no. The layers of love were deep and conflicting and confusing and convoluted. There is no yes to loving something without the no to aspects of it.

Did I love Flynn? Did I know enough about him to fully love him?

How was I supposed to define what we were together – what we had – into one question about whether I loved him or not?

How could I?

“ _No_ ,” I finally managed to whisper back, breaking as I said it. It hurt to admit, but I’d spent weeks thinking about this exact question.

Hannah was silent for a while. I knew I should say something to justify my answer, but I needed her to process the actual answer first.

“So…, it was just sex to you.”

I was surprised to hear no malice in her voice, just that she was tired. As if I’d just confirmed her worst fears. As if my admission and her assumption was what she’d believed all along.

“No,” I repeated. I moved from my place on the floor to stand up. I leant against the wall but I locked eyes with her. She was sitting easily against the her headboard, her hands clasped in front of her.

I tried to focus on her eyes instead of the bruising that still colored her face.

“I don’t love him,” I repeated. “But I think I could have… You know – eventually…”

Hannah tore her gaze from mine with a hurt frown. She looked down at her hands and sighed.

“Why?” she finally asked. “I mean, _how_?”

I frowned, opening my mouth to respond, but she cut me off.

“I mean… how could you? He doesn’t say anything, or _give you_ anything.” She looked back up at me, her eyes glassy. “I mean, _I_ love him because he raised me and he was there for me. I love him because its an unconditional thing. But I don’t know anything about him – I mean, not really? Do you? How could you think you could eventually love someone who is about as emotionally adept as a rock?”

I bit my lip. I didn’t know how to respond to that.

“I don’t know,” I finally said. “I learnt a few things about him while I was with him, but he still held almost all his cards next to his chest,” I admitted. “I guess I was holding out hope that one day he’d show me all those parts of himself…”

Hannah sighed, nodding. Then she gave me a look that pierced me.

“I miss you,” she said, her voice sad. I bit my lip, nodding.

“Me, too.”

Hannah huffed. “No, I mean like I really missed you. Noah’s great and he’s done so much, but this has shown me who my real friends are. Basically none of them have reached out to me to see if I’m okay aside from like an obligatory Instagram DM or something just as vapid.

“And then there’s you, who I know I told to fuck off, basically, so that one’s on me. But I fucking miss you, Kingsley. I love you… but I also kind of fucking hate you.”

I winced at that and Hannah seemed to notice, because she softened.

“Sorry. That came out not how I wanted,” she grimaced. “I don’t hate you. I was mad with what you did – going behind my back and whatever – but… I hated the idea that you could _know him_ , and I never could… you know?”

I nodded.

“I’m still mad at you… But, would you please get over here?”

My feet moved before I was ready and I practically tripped onto her, but if I hurt her in that moment, she didn’t voice it. Instead, she crushed me into a hug.

We lay together like we’d done a hundred thousand times in our lives. I felt like I was dreaming. _Was this happening?_

“I love you,” I whispered, tears flowing freely down my cheeks. “I’m so, so, unbelievably sorry for what I did. You have no idea.”

I burrowed my head into the crook of her neck as we held each other close. Our legs were tangled and I didn’t know who was who but I didn’t care.

“I know,” she murmured. She hadn’t said she’d forgiven me, and maybe that was because she hadn’t. But I didn’t care. Her embrace was enough for me right now.

“I love you, too,” she whispered back. “Probably too much.”

My laughter turned into tears as we both let out the emotions we’d been holding in ourselves for the last month. I didn’t know what would happen in the future, but I knew that I wasn’t doing anything to jeopardize this ever again.

.

**Had to split into two parts, so look out for that in the next few days**


	18. Sixteen (pt2) : In Which She Is Cornered

**SIXTEEN PART TWO: IN WHICH SHE IS CORNERED**

**Kingsley**

I didn’t leave Hannah’s side until it was way past sundown and she’d drifted off into an easy sleep. Even then, I’d stayed by her side, wrapped in her arms for as long as I could convince myself that it was real.

That she was really there right with me.

But, then my arm had fallen asleep beneath her. I’d maneuvered my way out from under her and padded to the door. Surprisingly, it was unlocked. I rolled my eyes at the idiocy of my having believed Noah when he said he’d lock us in – I should have known that that would never be in his nature. But, I was glad that I’d believed it, and that I’d stuck around.

I’d have lost a friend for good if I hadn’t.

I let the door click shut behind me, softly, making sure it wouldn’t wake her again. She deserved some rest after the hell she’d been through the last few weeks.

I decided to explore. Mostly because I’d never been inside her house before, plus I needed to find Noah. I needed to go home and sleep. I was scheduled to go back to work in the morning, and my brain was finally letting go of that gluttonous monster and I was realizing just how tired I really was.

I could have slept all night long in Hannah’s bed, but I thought it best I be alone and clean up the mess I’d left in my own apartment.

I rescinded my earlier statement upon arrival – Hannah’s house actually _was_ huge. I was already lost. There were too many unoccupied rooms and empty bathrooms that I was stumbling across.

I couldn’t make sense of the layout, but I finally assumed that the kitchen and living areas must be at the other end of the house, in the opposite wing. Following the light, I finally came across the kitchen.

But, no Noah.

But then I heard china clinking. With a frown at the noise, I turned the corner towards what was probably a formal dining room. The archway entry was open plan into the living room with ornate furniture and finishings, but I couldn’t focus on those.

No. As I rounded the wall and stood in the archway, my eyes widened in fear as my gaze fell on the two men sitting at the dining table. Noah met my eyes with the bite of his lip, as if knowing he’d done the wrong thing.

Because across from him sat the last person I ever wanted to see again. It would have been for my own good. I turned on my heel and got the hell out of there.

“Kingsley!” Flynn called after me. I could hear the chair scraping against the polished hardwood floor as he pushed his seat back hastily.

I ignored him, breaking into a run. What were the chances I could outrun him and hide in one of Noah and Hannah’s hundred bedroom? What were the chances that Flynn would be as clueless about the layout of this house as I was?

Probably slim…

And why did he have to look so goddamn good? That was the worst part. He’d been sporting the same tired gaze that Hannah and I both wore, his exhaustion clear in the lines around his mouth and the tightness of the hand he clenched around a wine glass at the table.

But he had actually made an effort to put on real clothes – unlike me in my sweats and random socks combo. He was wearing slacks and a button down shirt, as if he’d just come from some formal event.

Neat pressed without a wrinkle on him.

If I hadn’t been running from him, I’d have strangled him for being so put together right now – just for the satisfaction of crumpling his clothes.

 _Why was he here?_ Noah had said he hadn’t known what had gone on, but was he lying? _Had Hannah said something?_ Why else would Flynn be invited here, tonight – the same night Noah had dragged me here?

He had to have known.

There was no other explanation for it. The coincidence would have been too much.

Plus, Flynn didn’t make house calls, and I doubted he and Hannah had bonded over this one particularly traumatic event for his presence to be expected or treated as if it were normal in this place.

In fact, before Hannah had found out about us, I doubted if he’d ever stepped foot in her home either.

I threw open random doors. They all seemed to lead to more hallways instead of bedrooms like I’d hoped. At least in a bedroom I could have locked the door. No, instead I was just left to run from Flynn.

And by the footsteps I could hear echoing behind me, he was still in pursuit.

I flung open a door and ended up on the patio. It led to a beautiful pool on one side. I faltered for a moment, unsure on which direction to go next. My gaze fell on the poolhouse and I charged forward. Hopefully, it was unlocked.

“Would you let me talk to you?” Flynn called from behind me as I made my way to the threshold of the pool house. With a wary glance over my shoulder at him, I opened the door and moved to shut it behind me.

But he was too quick. He got a hand on the door and pushed it open, overpowering me. I took a step back with a huff, my arms extended to keep space between us.

He stood in the open doorway for a moment, watching me and the no doubt teary eyed expression on my face. My arms extended. His brows furrowed and he pursed his lips. Then he turned and shut the door softly behind him, closing us in.

Into the same space.

We hadn’t been around eachother in almost a month, and the strong scent of apples wafting off him – the same smell that used to set me on fire from the inside out – was making my skin crawl. It reminded me of too much. Of what I couldn’t have. What I wouldn’t have.

It was too much.

It was giving me too many memories.

“Kingsley–”

“Don’t,” I cut him off with a pained whisper. Flynn sighed, running two hands through his hair. Then he took two steps forward. I took two steps back.

He continued forward until I had no more space to move. Then he trapped me between him and a wall. My hands were on his chest as I tried to push him away.

“Kingsley,” he said again, lower, pained. His eyes were closed. I couldn’t help the whimper that hummed through my lips.

Being this close to him was doing nothing but hurt me. He was my personal hell, sent to torture me.

“ _Please_.” Don’t come any closer.

Please, stop making my heart ache. Please, move away from me. Please. stop wearing that cologne. Please, don’t make me say the words we both know I’m about to.

“Kingsley, I– We– …” Flynn sighed, his eyes opening and pouring into mine. I winced. He noticed.

Then he moved forward, his forehead touching mine and my own eyes closed.

I couldn’t look at those pools of hurt. Couldn’t face what I’d done and what it had put us through. Couldn’t face that pain again, because it was mirrored in myself.

I’d cut him off from me as much as I’d cut me off from him.

I couldn’t have him. I knew that now, and I definitely knew it before, but I wasn’t choosing to ignore it again. Not again. Not ever again.

But the searing heat of his skin against mine made tears slip from my closed eyelids. His heart beneath my finger tips raced a mile a minute as we stood in pained silence.

Why? Why did he have to be here? Why did he have to make this so much harder? Why couldn’t he have accepted my ghosting him like a regular guy?

Could he not understand that it meant I didn’t want him around? That I couldn’t bear to be around _him –_ knowing what it had done? What it had caused? The rift it had created? The bond it had severed?

I couldn’t do this again.

“I can’t,” I voiced, moving out from underneath him. Ducking under his arm and putting space between us again.

Flynn’s eyes shot open as he turned around. “Kingsley,” he pleaded my name. It made my heart rip into a million pieces, the panic in his voice. Panic that I’d leave again. Panic.

I couldn’t help it, because I felt the panic, too.

It consumed me like I’d been set alight – doomed to burn alive.

“No!” I screamed.

Flynn crumpled. His back fell to the wall I’d just been trapped against. The pain of my rejection was too clear on his face. It was too real. It was too much.

“Don’t you get it?” I whispered, my arms wrapping around myself. I suddenly felt ice cold, like I’d been doused in frigid arctic water to quash the blaze that had once encompassed me. “We can’t… _I can’t._ –I can’t do that to Hannah, again… You can’t ask me to.”

His head was in his hands as I looked at him through glassy eyes. His grip on his hair looked hard enough to pull the roots from his skull. He looked distraught – and tired.

“So… that’s it?”

I shook my head yes, once.

“We destroyed her… Noah put her back to together, but it was _my fault._ My only shot at getting her back means letting you go,” I whispered. The words made my throat bleed a river of pain. The thought of finally letting him go and keeping him from me shredded my heart to ribbons.

“You’d choose her over me? You have, already…?”

I winced. My eyes closed. “A thousand times,” I admitted on an exhale, my voice breaking. This could be my only answer to him. He pulled his head from his hands and looked up at me as a broken man.

“You won’t change your mind?”

I bit my lip, tears falling freely. I shook my head.

“Not even if I told you I loved you?” he tried.

My lips parted as I sobbed, crushing myself beneath my own embrace. Why was he saying these things? Knowing it would hurt me? Knowing it would torture me?

Nothing he could say could change my mind on this.

I needed to let him go to keep Hannah in my life. My hands cradled my own face as I sobbed into my hands.

“Please, _don’t_ ,” I whispered, mournfully. “I can’t handle that. I won’t. I don’t want it.”

“Kingsley, please just listen.” His hands were on my wrists, his fingers linking around the bone and squeezing once. He moved my hands from my face as I cried, holding them tightly in his.

I refused to meet his eyes.

“Please… _take it back_.” The words were barely audible, but I knew they’d caught him.

“No.”

I pulled my hands from his haughtily. I wanted to slap him. I wanted to hit him. I wanted to punch him. _Stop doing this to me. Stop making it harder._

“I can’t,” he whispered, his hands catching me again before I could turn away from him. “And, you need to listen to me.”

His palm cupped my face, his finger and thumb pinching my chin to look up into his eyes. I couldn’t get away. His other arm was around my back, keeping me flush against him.

He forced me to stare at his pain.

When I didn’t say anything, he decided that it was okay for him to fill my silence.

“These last weeks have been a blur. I haven’t known what to do with myself. I’ve been out of my fucking mind,” he whispered as his eyes bore into mine. I shook my head. I didn’t want to hear this.

Words like this would make me change my mind about him.

And I couldn’t be changing shit. I had chosen Hannah. I would choose _Hannah_.

“I can’t fucking sleep or eat or _anything_ ,” he said. “All because of you and the giant fucking hole you’ve left inside me. I don’t know what to do with myself because I let you get close to me and I never let _anyone_ get close to me for this fucking reason!”

The tears in his eyes were what made me stop struggling against him.

“Missing you has torn me the fuck apart, Kingsley, because it made me realize that I don’t want to be where you’re not,” he muttered. “And that scares the absolute shit out of me, because after the last time I felt like this, I promised myself that I wouldn’t let someone tear me up again because I never wanted to feel that broken again. And yet here _you_ fucking are, stuck under my skin like the last bitch who I fucking loved.”

My jaw dropped at his outburst. I couldn’t handle this shit. But I also couldn’t help myself. I needed more. Like I was addicted to the pain.

“Bullshit,” I muttered. I needed him on the defensive. It made him talk more. “You’ve never loved anyone. You wouldn’t know what the fuck to look for. Let me go.”

Flynn glared down at me through his tears.

“You don’t know _shit_ about me, Kingsley.”

I glared at him. “And who’s fault is that, Flynn? Huh? It’s sure not fucking mine.”

Flynn’s grip on me was hard, but I found the pain kind of comforting – real. I don’t know when my tears had stopped, but I was past the crying phase of our conversation. I was full on pissed off now.

He hadn’t listened to what I wanted. And so now, maybe he’d let me go if I got him angry enough. Maybe he’d want nothing to do with me and it’d all be for the best.

“Fine! You really wanna fucking know?”

I didn’t answer him. The challenge was evident enough in my eyes. Flynn sneered down at me.

“You think that I don’t know what love is, Kingsley. But the truth is that I’ve been hurt by enough people that I’ve loved that I’m a fucking expert in it. I know that it is the most destructive force on the planet, and that to love someone is to let yourself be completely fucked up, just like you’ve made me.”

“Try me.”

Flynn glared at me. “I have loved a grand total of four people in my life – before you,” he said. “My parents, and Hannah and her fucking Mother. But, my parents didn’t love me. They tolerated me. I was born solely to be an heir to the fortune they’d made and inherited. And yet I loved them.

“I did everything they wanted, thinking that pleasing them would make them love me. All up until the day I fucking _woke up_ and saw the fucking _truth_. And at twelve years old, I was way too fucking young to learn the hard truths of this world.

“I was way too fucking young to see them for the asshole uncaring monsters that they really were when all a twelve-year-old should ever be focusing on is middle school. And yet, there I was, having to grow the fuck up because the people around me were using me.

“They hired Hannah’s mother as my baby-sitter when I was ten, for the nights they went to lavish parties or whatever-the-fuck. And then after that, they hired her as my tutor because the girl needed glowing recommendations for college applications. _Eve_ fucking _Doherty_. She was seventeen when I met her, and nineteen when she ruined my fucking life.

“I thought the sun fucking rose and set with her. And then, I thought she loved me when she pressured me into sex. I thought she was a goddess and that our having to keep our relationship a secret was fun and exciting. I thought it was _cool_ to be with an older girl, but at twelve years old, what boy _isn’t_ ruled by his hormones? She knew better, but she went ahead and fucked me anyway.

“I thought it was harmless playing and pillowtalk when she threatened to hurt me if I ever told anyone else what we were doing instead of _tutoring_. As if I’d even _needed_ a tutor! And then she got fucking pregnant. We hadn’t used protection, because I was so far underage that I didn’t know what the hell that was.

“She used me, and abused me, and made me keep her pregnancy a secret for the first four months. She told my parents in her second trimester. She used me to get a kid, thinking that it would be a way into a wealthy family. She didn’t account for my parents flipping their shit for fucking me – a minor.

“So, then she took her anger out on me. She hit me, punched me… showed up at my school screaming that _I’d_ fucking raped _her._ She almost ran me over one afternoon as I walked home from school – jumped the fucking curb in a four-wheeler. I never told my parents, because I thought I deserved it. I thought I’d messed up her life plans by knocking her up and that it was all _my_ fault.

“Instead, they sent me to therapy for what they assumed was some other kid bullying me at school. When Hannah was born, my parents forced a paternity test and took her to fucking court – sued her first for defamation of their name and their business, and _second_ for fucking their minor son. I was second to them in that moment, less of a priority than their business and their name – and it’s when I realized I’d _always_ been second, and _would always_ come second.

“But then her lawyer had been good enough to keep her out of jail. I still loved her, even though I wasn’t allowed to see my own damn kid. I’d been allowed in the room when Hannah was born – the first time I’d held her had been the happiest moment of my _entire_ fucking life – but then suddenly it was like _I_ was the criminal who wasn’t allowed visitation rights.

“I had no fucking idea why. And then she became a coked-up junkie and died right in front of Hannah, shooting up. I had to _fight_ DCFS for the parental rights to Hannah as an eighteen-year-old, and my parents hated me for it. I finally found out that I hadn’t been allowed to see Hannah because my parents had paid Eve to go away. She had gotten what she’d fucking wanted in the end of it. They’d paid her to keep Hannah from me, and they fought me for the rights to her guardianship, wanting her to go into the system and be adopted instead of being raised by me.

“So, when I told them to go fuck themselves, I cut ties with them and made something of myself to provide for my fucking daughter and told myself I wouldn’t let anyone fuck up my shit to risk anything. But, those years I’d been forced away from her made me uncomfortable with her, thinking I had no fucking clue what I was doing raising a toddler – because I _didn’t_ – and Hannah thought it was her fault. And I was too much of a fuck up – still am – to have really fixed us.

“And then my parents just fucking _waltzed_ back into her life like they hadn’t demanded she become a ward of the state. Now, you go through all of that shit, and tell me that you don’t know how love fucks you every which way to Sunday, Kingsley…”

_I–…_

When he finished speaking, my jaw was on the floor. His chest was heaving and he had barely blinked as he looked down at me.

I didn’t know what to do. My heart was caught in my throat.

This was so fucked up.

My control was gone to shit, and before I could understand what I was doing, I was leaning upwards and my lips were crashing to his as we both cried.

I knew I was fucked up for kissing him, but in that moment, I couldn’t think about anything except the little boy who had been so desperate for love that he’d clung to smoke and mirrors, thinking they’d protect him.

I couldn’t think about anything except the man before me, whose heart was heavy with enough scars to take down a fucking elephant.

I couldn’t think about anything except the way that he held me so close to him – I didn’t want to think about anything else.

His arms were like a vice but weren’t my arms crushed around his neck, too?

It was wrong. This was wrong. _We_ were wrong.

I couldn’t add my name to the list of people who had fucked his heart up. But hadn’t I already? He said he loved me. I’d told Hannah I _could have_ loved him.

I wanted to love him. I wanted so badly for his admission to break me down and let my heart envelop him. I was hurting to many people.

And this kiss was only making it a hundred times worse – I realized.

Worse for him.

Worse for me.

Worse for the space I’d been so desperate to keep between us.

When I broke away from him, I turned and ran from the pool house and didn’t turn back.

 _I’m sorry_ , I thought. I was saying that a lot lately.

I was an asshole.

But I couldn’t do this again. I couldn’t hurt him – me – _us_ again, not like this.

And of course, it was raining. LA had to choose that night as one of it’s ten per year that the heavens decided to open up. And my hair flattened to my neck as I ran.

I didn’t know where I ran, I just ran.

I wanted to be the girl who could love him – the one who could heal his heart of the pain that _Eve_ fucking _Doherty_ had caused. I wanted him. I wanted to be with him. I wanted to be his.

But where would it leave Hannah? What would it do to her?

I couldn’t do that to her again.

Flynn was right. Love fucks you.

And I felt fucked.

Because damnit if I didn’t love him.

-I love him- … _Shit_

_._

**I feel sad, I feel pain…**


	19. Seventeen: In Which She Gives Her Blessing

**SEVENTEEN: In Which She Gives Her Blessing**

**Kingsley**

Hannah became a constant presence in my life the next few weeks after that night. Flynn wasn’t.

After his gigantic bombshell of information on me, and then our kiss – which had been so wrongfully timed, it wasn’t funny – I’d needed time to process. I hadn’t seen him since I’d bolted again.

I was an asshole for leaving him high and dry again, but the story he’d dropped on me – while it was an explanation I’d been begging for since we got together – I realized that I wasn’t ready for the full weight of it from him. Or at least, wasn’t ready for it after repairing my friendship with his daughter only hours before.

I thought that once I knew his truth that I would feel more secure in our relationship, but the truth was that I was only feeling more pressure.

He’d had so many people in his life screw him over once he got close to them, and I had gone and done the same fucking thing. I was in two minds about it. And it wasn’t like I could talk to anyone about it.

Noah had called to apologize a few days after I’d visited Hannah, saying she’d told him everything about walking in on Flynn and I at the cabin and running away in shock and anger. He said he was sorry for inviting Flynn around because he thought he could get us to make up like he’d achieved with Hannah and I.

I told him that there was nothing to apologize for. I knew that his heart had been in the right place seeing as he didn’t know anything. He was just trying to fix all the broken people around him all at once. Then our conversation petered out because I could tell he was trying to judge how to approach the conversation surrounding my being with Flynn.

It was awkward and I wanted to die. I was glad it was just over a phone call and that I didn’t have to sit in that tension in person. We ended the call before he could ask me any real questions about it, which I was thankful for.

I’d either called or visited Hannah every day in the weeks since then, keeping an eye on her and her recovery, and giving Noah a break so that he could go back to work.

Hannah and I avoided the topic, too. I could tell she purposefully wasn’t asking questions about him or the night he’d been there – which I was thankful for. I didn’t think I’d be able to handle that conversation with her just yet – especially when I was still undecided about how _I_ felt about that night.

I was glad to know the truth about Flynn and his past. Glad he’d felt he could trust me with the information. But I didn’t know how to feel about the position that he left me in.

Had he told me about Hannah’s mother to persuade me to stay with him? To ignore Hannah’s wishes and discomfort? Was he using his past to justify our relationship and his part in it?

Did I want to go back to him? _Yes_. No… Fuck, _I don’t know_.

Everything was so fucked up.

I went to work in a haze. A different haze then the one I’d been in before – no longer in a drunken stupor, and now just more of a wave of constant confusion. My thoughts consumed me, and my decisions and my actions. They distracted me from the people surrounding me at work, and my hands filled my tasks automatically – my whole body on autopilot while I tried to figure out what the heck I was going to do.

And then, on one of my days off, Hannah came barging through my front door. She hadn’t been cleared to go back to work yet, but was allowed to do small trips out of the house for menial errands.

Apparently, that also meant driving all the way to my neighborhood to come crashing through my door in a whirlwind. I looked up in shock from where I’d been scrolling through _Netflix_ – not having decided on what I was going to watch.

“ _Call him_.” Was her first demand. My eyebrows lifted in surprise as she caught her breath in the middle of my open door.

“And hello to you, too,” I said, brushing a strand of hair from my face. “Call who?”

 _Could I pretend I didn’t know what the hell she was talking about?_ Hannah sent me a disapproving glare, obviously not happy with my forced nonchalance.

“Don’t play dumb with me. My Dad. You haven’t called him. Why?”

I pursed my lips and sighed, then moving back on my sofa, making space for her and patting the seat cushion. Hannah regarded it for a moment before nodding once. She hurried to shut my front door and shuffle into my living room, slumping on the sofa beside me.

Where I was relaxed and resting into the back of the sofa, my best friend sat ramrod straight, so obviously not going to take a chill pill until she was satisfied with whatever answer she wanted to hear from me.

Emotional whiplash. That’s what I was feeling.

“I thought you didn’t want me to call him?” I bit my lip, raising my eyebrow pointedly. Hannah gave a sigh and fell back into the couch, pouting.

“I don’t know _what_ the hell I want,” she huffed, crossing her arms.

I frowned. Hannah fell down the sofa dramatically until she was lying in my lap. With a sigh, my hand was in her hair, stroking softly as she contemplated her feelings.

This only made my feelings more conflicted. I was pushing Flynn away because I knew first-hand what it’s like to have a bad relationship with one’s parents – and so did Flynn – and I couldn’t bear to be the reason that Hannah’s relationship with her Dad fell apart. As much as he’d been a distant father, he’d never been bad to Hannah, and I didn’t want to ruin that.

“I don’t know what I want,” she repeated. “I just know that _you’re_ moping, and _Noah_ is unbelievably stressed, and _my Dad_ hasn’t come out of his house since that night you came to mine.” The girl pouted as she looked up at me. “And I feel like maybe it’s starting to be my fault that everyone is feeling shitty.”

I shook my head at her.

“It’s not your fault,” I promised her. “I’m not sure if Flynn and I would have really worked anyway…”

Hannah frowned. “Why is that? Because of _me_?”

I shrugged, giving her a shake of my head. I didn’t know what I was supposed to tell her. Mostly because I hadn’t been able to put these exact feelings into words for weeks.

When I didn’t speak up, she bit her lip. “I called him, you know, just to check in on him,” she said. “And he finally told me… the truth about my Mom…?”

My eyes widened as I looked down at her. Her lips parted slightly and she nodded once.

“So, you know, too then?” she guessed correctly. I winced.

“I didn’t think it was my place to tell you…”

Hannah waved me off.

“No, I get it,” she sighed. “I’d kind of guessed as much anyway, you know? Figuring out age differences and doing the math and whatever…”

I pursed my lips down at her as Hannah looked up at me with glassy eyes.

“Was still shit to hear confirmed, though, you know?”

I nodded. I could only imagine.

“But, I think that it’s given us a chance to heal together,” Hannah continued. “I think now that there’s really no secrets between us, he and I can become closer…?”

I smiled down at her. I tried to hide away the pain that that stabbed through me.

“I’m glad for you, Han.”

Hannah frowned at that. “Well, don’t be. He’s been in a mood ever since that night and I can’t seem to break him out of it.”

My mouth gaped open at her abruptness and she sighed, sitting up from my lap as I was left speechless.

“I–”

Hannah cut me off by holding up a solitary finger.

“I think I was too hasty in judging the two of you together,” she admitted. My eyes widened in surprise. Definitely hadn’t expected her to say _that_. “But… even though I find it _super_ creepy that you’re into my _Dad_ … I can kind of see now how you’re good for each other.”

My jaw dropped and she smiled softly, reaching out for my hand and squeezing it.

“I’ve had a lot of time since the accident to look back at the weeks before that, and honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him happier. More content, somehow. Less like he was holding in the pain that was so familiar to me in my childhood,” Hannah offered. “You guys just… _fit_ , you know? Like me and Noah.”

My jaw was on the floor. Hannah chuckled at my expression.

_What the fuck?_

I frowned. “You–… I–”

Hannah rolled her eyes as I tried to find a use for my tongue. “This is me forgiving you…” she said. “…for sleeping with my Dad. You know… just in case you weren’t getting that.”

She gave me a smirk but I was too much in shock to really register what I was hearing.

 _Had she said what I think she said?_ Where the fuck did that leave me?

“Now, this doesn’t mean that the idea of you guys together doesn’t make me completely _cringe_ right now, because he is still my Dad, you know? But, I’m just saying, if you guys are still into each other then fucking go for it. But, I definitely do not want to know the ins and outs of your bedroom relationship like I normally would with any other boyfriend. Like, I don’t want to hear about how you two fuck like rabbits or whatever, I saw enough of that at the cabin to set me _for life_ –”

“It was never like rabbits…”

My eyes widened as I realized that that was the first thing I’d managed to say in the last five minutes. Hannah gave me a horrified look of disgust that made my cheeks flame red.

She covered her ears like a child, whispering to herself. “La la la, not listening. I am _so_ not listening!”

I clapped my hand over my mouth, undeniable embarrassment coursing through me.

“ _Sooo_ didn’t need to know that,” Hannah finally said, giving me a pointed look. I couldn’t help the smirk that lifted to my lips beneath the cover of my hand.

This felt better – the air between us. This felt more like _us_ than we had in a long time. Who knew it would take talking about sex with Flynn to get us there…?

I sighed, pursing my lips and lowering my hand. Jokes aside, this shit was going to be hard to say.

“Han… I, uhh… I don’t think I’m going to be calling Flynn.”

Hannah’s eyes widened.

“What? But–! I thought your only problem was that I wasn’t okay with it?! What the hell did I come over here for?”

I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

“Hannah, I just–”

I cut myself off as Hannah gave me a wounded look. She nodded her head once.

“Okay. So, you need more time to think about it?”

I frowned. “I’m sorry, Han. These last few weeks have just been… I mean, I don’t know…?”

Hannah sighed. “They have been kind of a mind fuck, haven’t they?” she agreed. I bit my lip, tense. I didn’t really know what else to say. Flynn hadn’t called me as much as I hadn’t called him. Frankly, the only person who was willing to get us back together at this stage was Hannah herself – never thought it’d come to that.

I nodded at her words.

“Okay,” she said, pouting. I knew she wasn’t meaning to do it, but it stabbed through me all the same. _Fuck!_ Why did I always screw this kind of shit up?!

“Just promise me that you’ll think about it?” she asked. “Getting back with him, I mean.”

“It’s all I _have_ been thinking about,” I promised, my voice low. Hannah struck me with a sympathetic look.

“He’s been out of his mind, you know?” she said. “Weirdly manic and not sleeping… Noah told me he won’t come out of that damn studio. He visited Dad last week and said he spent the whole time Noah was there muttering about ‘having to finish it’… whatever that means?”

I frowned, intrigued. I did my best to ignore the immediate worry that set my teeth on edge. I couldn’t help that I still worried about him. Was he eating enough? Sleeping enough? Taking care of himself? He often forgot to do those things…

“When Noah tried to get him to do something, Dad snapped at him.”

I frowned. Hannah nodded. “I know. I thought it was weird, too. Out of character… But Noah said that he was _real_ focused on whatever he was doing, said it was mesmerizing in some way. I guess I can understand that. He gets kind of lost in his work. I can’t even remember how many times I just sat there for hours and watched him. I think it’s the only way he knows how to distract himself from the now…”

Tears welled in my eyes at the thought of him doing this to himself to try and ignore what was going on between us. Hannah noticed and with a pout, hurriedly pulled me into a hug.

“ _Oh, Kings_ … I’m so sorry, I wasn’t thinking about how you’d react to that,” she whispered into my shoulder. “I know that somewhere in you, you’re just as worried about him as I am. You know… under all the hurt and confusion. I know, because I was trying to wade through all the same shit these last few weeks.”

I sniffled into her shoulder, my arms linking around her. It felt good to hug my friend again. My head was a mess.

“It helps to talk,” she whispered into my shoulder. “To me… _to him…?”_ she added hopefully. I bit my lip, drawing blood, but nodded into her, squeezing her tight.

I knew that I would have to talk to him eventually. The space between us already hurt too much. But… I hated that I wasn’t ready.

I missed him for everything. And while I hadn’t thought it would, the forced space between us had made me reevaluate everything about him and I – our relationship.

Hannah left soon after that, saying she needed to get home. She left me to contemplate what the hell I was going to do now.

Now that she was okay with it. With Flynn and I.

Now that she’d given us the green light…

But, was I ready to go back to him? I missed him so much that I ached. Missed the way he was attentive – to me, to his art, to his cats. Missed his drive and his determination – his passion to succeed in his career. Missed the faraway look in his eyes as he contemplated something deep in that mind that I would never _ever_ uncover fully.

I didn’t know why I was holding back.

I didn’t know what the hell was stopping me from running straight back to him…

.

The box showed up on my doorstep a few days later. I’d stumbled across it on my way in the door from work.

There was no address label, and I hadn’t done any online shopping in weeks, so someone had had to deliver it in person. Curious, I took it inside and put it on my kitchen counter.

When I opened it, I almost wept.

It was heavy as I pulled it from the box and set it down on the counter. Then all I could do for at least two hours was just stare at it – marvel it.

I had never had the chance to see one of his unveilings, but to see his work up close – to fully appreciate the intricacies that he achieved with paperclips just placed properly, interwoven and connected – it made me emotional.

The design was sleek and almost soft to touch – strangely – like trying to stroke a stream of water.

I had to take a step back to take it in.

Because the sculpture was a little life-size feline statue. _Botticelli_ , I realized as I spent even more time with it. I recognized the lilt to its ears and the curl of its tail.

The cat was in a sitting position, looking up like it was waiting for food.

Overwhelmed, I covered my mouth as hot tears coursed down my face. I didn’t know if they were happy or sad, but they were all consuming.

This little cat was a little ray of sunshine – _hope_ – that I hadn’t been expecting.

It was Flynn’s white flag – his peace offering. And I didn’t know how to handle that. I didn’t know how to handle these emotions.

The soft knock on the door behind me surprised me – scared the shit out of me, more like. I tried to wipe away my tears with haste, my cheeks aflame as I tried to calm my breathing.

My neighbor probably just got locked out of their apartment again. They didn’t need to witness me in the midst of a breakdown.

I pulled the door open and my eyes widened when they registered he was standing in front of me. His hands were deep in the pockets of his jeans and his hair was crumpled.

His jaw was clenched as he looked down at me with those scorching eyes.

“Hi…”

.

**I had to do it to y’all.**

**I had to! The temptation to tease you all is just too fun!**

**I know, I know, I’m evil, I’m the devil’s spawn. Please leave any and all criticism of my choices in the comments**


	20. Eighteen: In Which Her Answer Surprises Him

**EIGHTEEN: In Which Her Answer Surprises Him**

**Kingsley**

“Hi.”

His voice was gruff, showing his lack of sleep. His eyes were hopeful, though, as they stared down at me. I exhaled.

“Hi.” I couldn’t manage another word. He lifted a hand to scratch the back of his neck. My eyes tracked his movement – the strain of his grey t-shirt and the unsure bite of his bottom lip.

It set my skin on fire and my heart racing.

I took a step away from the doorway, inviting him in without words. He seemed to accept, his soft footfalls on my kitchen floor making memories of him course through me.

The way he’d lifted me up on my kitchen counter, the way he’d made love to me on my sofa, the window seat, everywhere else…

I bit my lip, casting my eyes away from him. They fell on the silver cat and my heart thumped a rain-dance in my chest.

Flynn shut the door behind him and leant back against it.

“It’s… ahh… It’s good to see you,” he said, shifting his feet as our awkward tension multiplied. I nodded, not trusting my tongue to let words filter through my lips just yet.

I was afraid that if I spoke, I’d be able to do nothing but fall into his embrace like every other time. Like that kiss in the pool house. I couldn’t help it around him, so I needed him to not make me say anything right now.

“You got the box?” His voice lowered, unsure. I glanced at the cat before turning back to him, nodding.

When he realized I wasn’t going to say anything, he sighed and took a step closer to me, like he needed to be in my orbit to get through whatever he needed to get through.

My back was against the counter as he stood before me. Close enough that I could feel his body heat rolling off him in waves.

“I love it,” I managed to whisper. He inhaled sharply at my words. It was true, I did love it.

I loved that he’d taken the time to make it for me. I loved that he knew that I’d love it, not only because it came from _him_ but because it showed he knew me. He’d picked Botticelli as his muse because he knew that we’d bonded over a love of all things feline.

I loved it because he’d known that I would.

His eyes caught mine, trapping me. “I haven’t been able to think about anything else,” he admitted. “You kind of set up camp inside my brain…”

I frowned slightly, biting my lip.

Flynn sighed. “I want you back, Kingsley,” he whispered, his body so close to mine that it was making it hard to think. My hands reached for him, twisting my fingers in his shirt as I looked at my hands.

They were grabbing at the material at his waist, holding him as close to me as I could bear for now.

When I looked up at him, his eyes were like burnt gold, watching me. They tightened when we locked eyes. I bit my lip.

“Hannah told me,” I said. “She told me that you talked to her about her Mom…”

Flynn didn’t wince, but I felt him tense beneath my fingers. He gave a solitary nod. “It was time.”

I nodded. Then his hands were on my waist, as tentative as my own, but needy enough that I knew it was him not able to hold himself back anymore.

I was allowed to touch him, so why not the other way around?

I could feel myself relax beneath his touch – featherlight as it was – as he caressed my hips. He took another step closer to me until our chests were touching.

“Did she say anything else?” he asked.

I nodded, eyes on his.

I responded after a moment. This would change everything. “She’s okay with us…”

Flynn took a moment. “Are you?”

I bit my lip, my hands gliding from his waist to his chest, resting above his heart. The steady beat beneath the skin comforted me. I didn’t know what the tears prickling at my eyes were for.

I didn’t know what to tell him as I stared into his heated gaze. He drew in a slow breath.

“Are you going to push me away?” he whispered, our noses practically touching. My breath hitched, but I shook my head slightly. I was done saying no.

I was done saying no to him.

I couldn’t anymore.

I couldn’t find a reason to. There was nothing stopping this.

The press of his lips against mine was gentle – new… _intimate_. Something we’d never done. But as my arms wound around his neck to pull him closer to me, I knew it was what we needed.

He was what I needed.

How could I have ever been so stupid?

I was a fucking idiot. Pushing him away had been the worst mistake of my life, and here he was, giving me a million and one fucking chances to be his.

When I came up for air, I couldn’t help the sob that choked me.

“I love you,” I said, my palm cupping his face and stroking at his chin. “I’m so fucking sorry it took me so long to understand it.”

Flynn grimaced at my words, like they were too much, but he shook his head. His arms were tight around me as our eyes closed and our foreheads touched together as we caught our breath.

“You have nothing to apologize for,” he whispered. His lips were soft against the skin of my cheek as he spoke. “I’ve been just as frustrated and confused.”

I managed to hiccup out a laugh before I was pulling his lips back to mine. I needed more of him. I would always need more of him.

Never enough.

 _I love you_ ’s passed from both our lips as he held me, whispered against the tension between us. The bench cutting into my back was a welcome pain, because it meant that this was all real.

He was really here.

He really loved me.

All the broken and hurt and confused parts of me.

He loved me.

And I loved him.

I almost protested when he pulled away from me, but then I was distracted by the fact that he was falling slowly onto one knee.

My eyes widened, my mind completely blank as he pulled into his pocket. His other hand reached for mine as he produced a little velvet box.

“I’m a fucking mess, Kingsley,” he whispered, his voice breaking. “I am so fucking lost and broken without you. I want you to be the one to fix me and complete me from now until the end of forever. I know we’ve been through shit, but right now, I know that I won’t be so stupid to let anything tear you from me again. So, don’t think, just give me your gunshot answer.

“Will you marry me?”

My heart was in my throat as I looked down at the hopeful eyes gazing up at me. I had never witnessed such a brazen display of love before. And yet…

“ _Fuck_ ,” I whispered. “No…”

It broke me to watch Flynn’s face fall as he tore his eyes from mine to stare at the all too big diamond ring he’d whipped from the little box. With light in my eyes and a too big smile on my lips, I sunk to my knees before him.

I covered my shocked and surprised grin with my hand before pulling him into a hug.

“You’re an idiot,” I whispered into his shoulder. I pulled just enough distance between us to smash my lips to his. I was a confusing bitch, that was for sure.

The tears coming down my cheeks felt like a river as I tasted their salt. Flynn didn’t kiss me back and I had the gall to giggle. The hurt in his eyes when I pulled away tugged at my heartstrings.

“I don’t need a proposal from you,” I reassured him, my arms around his neck. He frowned but his arms came around me, too. “I respect Hannah for her choices, but I’m _wayyyy_ too fucking young to be getting married.”

Flynn huffed out a small chuckle as he realized I wasn’t actually rejecting him. I pressed a kiss to his nose.

“I do want to be with you,” I promised. “I’m sorry it took me so fucking long to realize it. These last few weeks have been hell and I want it to be over and I’m sorry I pushed you away when we should’ve held a united front to show Hannah we were serious. My running away didn’t help in that department. Can you forgive me?”

Flynn’s eyes were wide. “Me…, forgive you…?”

I nodded, feeling giddy. My heart was singing that he wanted me enough to present me with a ring. My hope for our future was soaring.

“Kingsley…, it should be _me_ asking for forgiveness,” Flynn said in a low voice. “I played an equal part in hiding our relationship from Hannah. But, then at dinner that night I wasn’t thinking about how my actions would affect you. I should have expected you’d come to my room that night. I never should have done it in the first place at the dinner table, because it risked us to everyone when I knew you wanted to keep it from Hannah for a while longer. I realize now that my actions pressured you and that’s not okay.

“And then, at the pool house, it was only after that I realised maybe you’d take my revealing my history as some kind of ploy on my part to guilt you into being with me. It was totally not what I meant by it. I was just trying to prove to you that my love for you is real and different than the other times. You mean so fucking much more to me than anyone has – besides my daughter. Enough that I’m not willing to lose you again. I’m here asking for _your_ forgiveness, as well as your hand.”

I bit my lip as we kneeled together, a hairs breadth apart. I squeezed him close to me, our lips inches apart.

“Call it even?” I asked, tears in my eyes. Hopeful.

Flynn chuckled, but nodded. “Sure. I _will_ make it up to you, though.”

I couldn’t help the ear to ear smile on my lips. “You being here already has…”

The soul crushing kiss that we shared sent me into another dimension. I was never _ever_ letting him go again. The world could be damned.

I was staying by his side and I knew he’d stick by mind.

For better or for worse, _hahaha_.

And one day, I knew I’d be sliding that ridiculously huge and gaudy diamond ring onto my finger and promising in front of our loved ones to be with him forever.

But this right here, right now… this was enough.

.

**:)**

**Do y’all forgive me???**


	21. Epilogue: In Which He Holds Her

**EPILOGUE: In Which He Holds Her**

**Two Years Later**

**Flynn**

I exhaled lowly as I leant my head back against the wall. I’d been trying to catch some sleep after the hectic last three days we’d had. The chair I sat in was uncomfortable, but it was nothing compared to how uncomfortable Kingsley had to have been.

The girl was a trooper. And I couldn’t believe she’d just given me this unbelievable gift.

I heard the latch on the door click before it swung open. There was no squeak, which I was thankful for. I heard a small chuckle that I recognized but ignored it.

“He’s still asleep?”

Hannah’s voice was low as I heard her cross the room and climb into bed with Kingsley. My fiancée’s huff of agreement was muffled by the movement of sheets on the bed.

“I can’t blame him. He was getting barely any sleep leading up to his new piece reveal,” Kingsley said lowly. Hannah interrupted for a moment, making cooing and kissy noises.

“I heard it’s getting great press and reviews, though,” Hannah said. I allowed myself a small smile at that. I hadn’t had time to even check my email the last few days. I was glad my hard work was paying off.

“They’re saying it’s a ‘new and fresh look’ from him. Saying this piece in particular stands out from his others. That it has some sort of extra element to it that no one can put their finger on,” Hannah smiled. I exhaled slowly. “But what about you? How are you feeling?”

I could practically feel the smile radiating off Kingsley.

“I’m great. She’s great. Haven’t caught much sleep either but I don’t want to miss a second of this.”

Hannah chuckled. “You guys decide on a name yet?”

I peered an eye open to watch the two women. Neither of them paid me any mind. I was content to watch them, enjoying their closeness. Hannah was rocking side to side slightly, her new baby sister cradled in her arms.

Kingsley nodded with a warm smile.

“Colette Elyse Forbes.”

Hannah’s eyes lightened, crinkling at the edges as tears sprung up at the edges. It warmed my heart.

“I love it,” she whispered. She moved the newborn away from her chest slightly, smiling down at my daughter as she shone her bright eyes up at Hannah. “Hi, Collie, I’m your new big sister.”

I looked over at Kingsley to see her reaching for a tissue.

“Sorry,” she grinned at Hannah when the other girl gave her a look. “Hormones. I can’t help it.”

“I bet,” Hannah grinned. “How many stitches was it, too?”

Kingsley rolled her eyes. “I don’t even want to know. This little one just _had_ to try and come out the wrong way, though, huh? Didn’t you?” Kingsley giggled, stroking at our daughter’s wispy dark hair.

She looked more like me than I’d really expected she would. It was a different feeling. Hannah had always looked more like Eve, though I could see traces of her in her slender nose and high cheekbones.

But Colette… she was the spitting image of me. Her dark eyes coming right from her mother, though. The first time she’d opened them to peer up at me, I’d almost combusted.

“Wait,” Hannah rushed out. “Does this mean I have to call you ‘Mom’, too now?”

Smirking, I watched Kingsley shudder uncomfortably.

“Absolutely not!”

I watched my daughter grin mischievously as the two women bickered.

“Ha! What are you gonna do about it? Ground me? Take away my allowance?”

Kingsley gave her friend a hefty helping of the stink eye that I’d been on the receiving end of way too many times. “Hannah…” she said warningly. “I swear to God…”

Hannah just laughed and opened her arm up to pull Kingsley into a hug.

“Chill out, _Mama Bear_ , I’m just teasing.”

Kingsley leant her head on her friend’s shoulder, enjoying her embrace as the lids on her eyes started to droop. The nurse had come in a little while ago to give her a sedative so that she could actually get some sleep after the surgery.

Kingsley had been against it, but in the end, she needed the rest. Her body had been through hell and back. She’d gone into labor right as I’d been about to unveil my new piece to the world.

And then everything had been such a rush that I hadn’t had time to enjoy my latest sculpture being shown to the world, because I’d left Hannah in charge as I rushed Kingsley to the hospital.

Hours later and she was being wheeled into an emergency C-Section because Collete decided to try and come out upside down and twisted around instead of head-first. If Kingsley had tried to push, Collete’s back would have come out first.

C-Section was the best plan for everyone.

So, Kingsley had gone under because of the combination of the epidural and anesthetic and I’d had to monitor as they moved her organs out of the way to reach the baby. Then Kingsley had been sewn up like new.

It had been the scariest night of my life.

“These last few years have been so fucking weird,” Hannah sighed, leaning against Kingsley’s bent head as she stroked at her new sister’s face. “I mean, I never would have predicted _this_. I didn’t even know you liked my dad.” Hannah shuddered dramatically for emphasis and Kingsley just rolled her eyes.

I was used to this by now. Hannah was always the one to tease the two of them about their relationship, but I had learnt to take it on the chin, knowing Hannah meant nothing by it and actually liked seeing her best friend happy with me.

It had been awkward at first, though. The first dinner that they’d gone to with Hannah and Noah, as a double date, they’d had to drink a _lot_ before anyone was totally comfortable.

Then there were all the lingering eyes on the couple at Hannah and Noah’s wedding. As much as I had tried to convince Kingsley to ignore them, she still struggled with the attention.

I couldn’t have cared less. I was with a woman who made me happy and made me feel like myself again – something that had been foreign to me for so many years. People’s opinions could be damned. And Kingsley was learning to have the same outlook.

“Please don’t say it like that,” Kingsley said, nudging her friend. “You know that’s not how it happened. Besides… nothing ever would have happened if _you_ hadn’t wanted me to stay with him in the first place.”

“Oh yeah? So now it’s my fault?” Hannah challenged with a grin. “Where else would you have gone, Kingi, come on.”

Kingsley chuckled, her eyes on our daughter. “Yeah, yeah, I know.”

“Besides, I guess it’s not been that bad,” Hannah smiled down at the bundle of joy in her arms. “I do have a new little baby sister to thank you for, though I do hate you for beating me to becoming a Mom.”

Kingsley rolled her eyes and I grinned. That one may have been my fault. One night in a hotel for our anniversary and there had been a birth control overlap that neither of us had paid enough attention to.

Usually I was so careful about protection, but she’d looked so good in that black lace teddy that all reasoning had fled from my mind that night and we’d gone at it in a craze.

“Not my fault,” Kingsley grinned. “You and Noah are taking too damn long. You’ve been married how long now? A hundred years?”

“A hundred and one,” Hannah shrugged with a chuckle, making Kingsley smile. “I guess I can forgive you for going for my Dad, now that I’ve seen _this_ little beautiful one. She’s gonna be a heartbreaker.” Hannah cooed down at her sister, touching her little nose as the baby hiccuped.

Kingsley’s jaw dropped as Hannah’s word’s hit her. I just had to roll my eyes at their antics. They were never ending.

“I thought you already forgave me?!” She demanded with a gasp, her tone hushed.

Hannah chuckled. “Yeah I guess…, but this little angel is the cherry on top.”

Kingsley rolled her eyes, muttering to herself. “It’s not like we’re even that far apart in age. I mean, twelve years is basically nothing.”

“Yeah but he’s still my dad.”

Kingsley rolled her eyes, waving her hands. “I can’t have this argument again,” she grinned. Hannah just chuckled at successfully winding her friend up.

“Alright, sorry, _Mom_.”

Kingsley gave a dramatic sigh. She would never win, Hannah always went for the throat. Hannah just laughed softly.

“May as well get used to being called that. This little one is gonna be talking in no time.”

Kingsley groaned. “I don’t even want to think about that just yet. I just want to get through the next few years of sleepless nights.”

I had to jump into their conversation.

“Yeah, sleepless for a few reasons…” I chuckled from the chair by the wall. Both girls looked over at me, Kingsley with her jaw dropped in mortified horror, and Hannah’s eyebrows creased with disgust.

Kingsley threw a wayward baby beanie at me, which I ducked out of the way with a small laugh.

These three made my heart full. All the people I loved most in the world were in this one room.

“Disgusting. I don’t need to hear about you two’s sex life. I saw enough of that happening at the cabin to scar me for life.”

I just laughed.

“I prefer to think that you will never have sex again now that you have a baby, the alternative is just too disturbing,” Hannah shuddered.

Kingsley sighed haughtily from the bed. “Can we move away from this topic? I am _extremely_ uncomfortable.”

I just smirked at my wife. I hope she knew that as soon as she was cleared from her doctor, I was going to fuck her senseless for giving me the greatest gift in the world.

Recognizing the look on my face, she held a finger up at me in warning, which I ignored, continuing to appreciate her with my gaze.

“Oh, but baby, how else are we supposed to give Hannah here more reasons to practice abstinence herself? She’s gonna need all the energy she can get if she’s going to babysit a hundred kids for us.”

“A hundred!” Kingsley squeaked, horrified. “Uh uh, mister. You’re not coming anywhere near me. I think one is enough.”

“For now,” I grinned lowly. Kingsley just rolled her eyes at me, averting her gaze. It made me grin.

Hannah checked her watch. “Okay, visiting hours are almost up, so I’m out of here. You getting discharged Wednesday tomorrow or Wednesday next week?”

“Wednesday next week,” I nodded as I watched her get off the bed.

“That’s right,” Kingsley agreed. “I’m going to take advantage of my full ten days of bedrest if they think they can cut me open.” I watched her scowl into the bedsheets, her body beginning to relax into the drugs she’d been administered.

I rolled my eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, I know it was necessary,” she muttered, waving me off before I could say anything. “Still hurt like a mother effer, though…”

Hannah grinned at her friend. Then she leant down and pressed a kiss to the sleeping baby’s head.

When she stood, I moved from my chair to across the room. I folded Hannah into a hug, something that was new to us, but something that I was glad we were comfortable enough to do.

I could feel Kingsley’s happy gaze on us as I lingered in Hannah’s arms for a few moments longer than necessary. I was happy for it. I’d starved Hannah for too long of the familial intimacy between us, and I knew it would take a long time to catch up to where we needed to be, but I didn’t mind. I was still learning how to show her the affection that she so cherished, but being with Kingsley made it easier as she showed me how it could be effortless to love someone.

“Okay,” Hannah smiled when she pulled away. “Promise me you’ll check out some of the headlines for your piece, because seriously, the people are loving it. Anyways, I think Noah is waiting to pick me up. I’ll see you guys Wednesday. There _may_ or _may not_ be a special surprise waiting at the house when you get there.”

Kingsley groaned from the bed. “Han, please not a party…”

Hannah waved her off with a grin. “Love you guys, see ya Wednesday.”

Kingsley sighed, closing her eyes tiredly when Hannah left in a flurry of smiley giggles, the door folding shut softly behind her.

“She’s torturing me,” Kingsley whispered when she’d left. I just chuckled and got onto the bed where Hannah had momentarily occupied. I took Colette from her arms and rested her in mine, then Kingsley’s head fell tiredly onto my shoulder.

One of her hands fell into mine and I squeezed.

“Nah, I’m just glad everyone is okay now.”

Kingsley smiled, leaning into me as she exhaled softly, beginning to let herself fall asleep. “Me too.”

I smiled and pressed a kiss to her hair. My mind drifted to my sculpture. I was most proud of this one.

It was the same size as the Statue of David sculpture I’d done, but was a little different. It was of three people. A woman cradling her newborn baby in her arms, a man embracing her from behind, their heads leant cheek to cheek as they smiled down at their child. Around their feet curled three cats.

It was the closest to a self-portrait I had ever attempted. Kingsley had cried the first time she’d seen it. It was made completely of interwoven paperclips, because I liked the symbolism that each was linked to another.

Kingsley had called it beautiful.

The sculpture _was_ beautiful, because it was us. I had tried to resemble hers and my features as similarly as possible. Because, this wasn’t just my latest piece, it was my statement to the world about who I was, who I wanted to stand beside forever, and who held my heart in the palm of her hand.

The sculpture was my truth, my legacy. I couldn’t have been prouder.

Kingsley tilted her head to look up into my eyes, squeezing my hand back. I leant down for a moment, letting my lips press softly against hers for just a second. She was the greatest thing that had ever happened to me. And she had agreed to spend the rest of her life with me. And she had given me another new person to love, someone who was just as much hers as they were mine.

“Are you ready for this, love?” I smiled. They were less and less rare on my face these days…

She smiled cheekily, eyeing me in a sideways glance.

“Oh, I was born ready. Just depends if you’re not too old to do this parenting thing all over again.”

I chuckled. “Well, jokes aside; now that I’m not a child myself, I feel we might be more successful.”

“Hmm, I like the sound of that… _daddy_.”

.

**< 3 my heart is full**


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